Be My Escape
by Ransomrigged
Summary: There are consequences as the last Human, there are people willing to enforce them. Caged, beaten, broken, and on the edge of sanity, Finn was never found in Boom-Boom mountain. Is this what it means to be Human? Because no matter how hard you try, no matter how far you run, no matter what you've learned- She will be there to take your hand and pull you down harder. ART BY HNRat!
1. Chapter 1

**Be My Escape**

**Song: Be My Escape by Relent K**

**A/N: The first chapters of this story are partly re-written and heavily revised from the originals until an A/N states otherwise.**

_I've given up, I'm giving up slowly._

_I'm blending in so you won't even know me_

She didn't belong there, she knew that. She also knew that she wasn't the only one.

From all over Ooo, every town and village, every cave and kingdom, people of all types flock to this one place, this once deserted place.

She knew she wasn't meant to be there on any circumstances, but she blended into the crowd well enough to go more than unnoticed; she'd been looked over all night, no one cared.

The line had been stretching on literally for miles. This sight to see was a once in a generation, once in a _life_, the wait meant nothing to what they were here for.

Rumors had been flung around Ooo for weeks to almost a month, that's why _she _was here. She was the only one who actually _knew_, who could _prove_ that they were true.

They couldn't be, though.

They could only be lies and ignorance.

They had to be.

"How could somebody even _find _one?" A person had asked from behind her to another.

"I wish I knew, I thought there weren't any more."

"But that's what _everyone _thought. Maybe it's not even real? Maybe they made a mistake, and it's _not?"_

"We better hope it _is. _We've been waiting for hours!"

She could hear the impatience in their voices, but she wasn't like that. She had an endless amount of time ahead of her, an endless amount of time behind her as well. A few hours were mere seconds- waiting was nothing.

_Apart from this whole world that shares my fate_

He had been locked in there, for who _knows_ how long. Each night and day for almost a month he's been stared at, had things thrown at him, prodded, and screamed at to move. He was not an animal, but treated as one nonetheless. He was not one of _them_, is what he's been reminded.

He didn't belong here, he knew it. But he wouldn't- he couldn't_- _leave, you see.

Yet another, "Look! _Look _at it! It's so weird!" Was called out but went right through his ears.

No, he wasn't part of this world. He was here for the world to decide what to do with him.

'_Cause I know to live, you must give your life away_

But what if the rumors were true? She told herself they weren't, they couldn't be, and they weren't.

She'd had her life taken away for a reason. It had nothing to do with flight, fangs, power, or eternity. It had _nothing_ to do with _anything_. Eternity was a sucker punch in itself, but thanks to it she was more knowledgeable than you may realize. She didn't have a true reason why she would want to live an eternity, and that may have been because she didn't.

Who _would? _To be stuck in one place in time… forever?

"No, they're extinct, I've told you already. We're coming to see the Cyclops."

That was a lie, too. Everyone wanted and needed to see this, even her. Something had to be wrong for there to be one still alive.

_And I've been housing all this doubt, and insecurity. _

He would never get out. Even after all the times he's tried he could never save himself. There was never a time in his life where another had even attempted to help ease his torments_. _It didn't take long before he had come to the conclusion that he was worth less than nothing.

But he didn't show it, no one would care though. He didn't try to leave, because he knew he'd be dragged back in chains by his ankles.

_And I've been locked inside that house, all the while you hold the key_

Before sheknew it unlike the rest, the line had moved her to the front. Everyone around was excited to finally enter, and that was the only thing she shared with them.

The staff member took the dollar bills from the awaiting, letting each in one at a time.

In what must have been only moment, she was taking the last steps to stand directly in front of the cage.

_And I've been dying to get out, and that might be the death of me_

But if he somehow succeeded in escape, he would be killed. Most likely by the colorful, gentle creatures called Rainicorns. And speaking of which, they hadn't been allowed into the room where he was kept, and viewed at a "Safe Distance", but that distance was not for him.

He may have _sort of_ tried to get at someone, but what could you expect?

He had gotten as far as he could through the bars of his cage, his own eyes filled with furry as he attempted to reach out to the man the previous day. He didn't get far, though.

He was a sight to see, alright! Like an animal, but still not. Like a person, but far from it.

He had always asked them, asked himself, and asked the visitors what he was.

He only received one answer-

Human.

_Even though, there's no way of knowing where to go, I promise I'm going_

There was an uncountable number of people in there

The lack of air made her dizzy in an instant. Who would _stay _in here?

Maybe that was what actually drove them out for the next group.

She began to shove herself through the sea of bodies. Slipping through shoulders, ducking under arms, and stepping over kids. She was _going _to get to the front to see it.

"Look at it! What is it?!"

That stung. Even if it wasn't directed at her, it sizzled on her skin like the sunlight.

She tugged on the hood of her cloak to cover her eyes further, breathing in deeply the scent of all the blood in the room that was hidden under flesh.

_O-Oh I've got to get out of here_

_I'm stuck inside this rut that I fell into by mistake_

He was scared.

_Glob, _was he afraid.

All those people, for weeks. All that sound, _it was too much! _And he could hardly breathe now, was he dying?

He was ignored as an infant, no one came to pick him up. He was considered a weird goblin up until the point when he took off his hat in public. Only one person in that entire crowd from so long ago knew him for what he was, whatever he was- _Human? _He still had no idea of the meaning.

He was gagged, hog-tied, blindfolded, and thrown into a body-bag when he was nine. The first sight he saw was that "Ring Master". He was in a different cage at that time, though, one meant for the most vicious of beasts.

He knew he wasn't meant to be there. He was meant to be free. It called through his veins and every cell in his malnourished body that he _needed _freedom, more than just wanted it. Was there something wrong with him? Was he crazy? What… what was _wrong_ with him?

But it was his fault, is what he's told.

His entire fault for where he ended up.

And _no one_ was going to save him.

_O-Oh, I got to get out of here_

Her goal was to leave as soon as possible. But in that first instant, looking into those frightened blue eyes, she knew she couldn't.

Seeing the loss, the fear, and the hopelessness simply _screaming _in his gaze. Unable to look away, she was just as trapped as he was.

The laughs, the _oohs,_ and _aahs, _they all were fading into the background. All she could see was the un-bathed, grotesque creature curled small in the corner of his cage, as far from her as possible. Only its eyes peeked out from above its knees, studying her as she him.

The rumors were true.

_Dang, _were they true.

That was not good.

The engraved metal banner welded to the front of his container said the truth: _The Last Human_

She could smell the sweetness of his blood through the sweat of the crowd, something she hasn't even dreamed of in centuries. The rabid side of her yearned to yank away the bars to his cell, and suck him dry. She was one of the known two things in Ooo that would kill any human for their own benefit.

She raises a hand to her hood, and pushes it down to her shoulders to show her face.

Almost immediately screams start to echo back and forth through the ocean of citizens.

The human rose from his position, revealing he was on the shorter side of five feet, and who's clothes hung loosely on the bag of bones he was. His ragged locks of hair fell over his face, but were hastily shoved away as he watched everyone dispatch, fighting to get out the tent.

"_VAMPIRE!"_

Literally, everything was cleared in minutes. All that was left was the unmoving Cyclops, the Vampire, and the Human.

_And I'm begging you_

He stared into her red eyes, questioning and thinking and _wondering_. Somehow, he didn't feel safe holding her gaze.He knew he shouldn't have, for everyone else had fled for what must have been an obvious reason.

"It's amazing," She says coolly. Stepping the extra few yards to the edge of his cage, "How at least _one _survives."

He isn't speaking, not for here, not for _anyone._

Her eyes narrowed slightly, "How long have you been here?"

He bravely, takes a step towards her, but that's all.

She raises an eye-brow, expecting something more. But reluctantly she says "Marceline the Vampire Queen; you are…?"

His lips tighten and his eyes drop to the metal floor. His fingers began to play with the end of his clothes, and the toes of his bare feet curled. He was a Human.

She blows a piece of onyx hair from her line of view. "Why are you in a _cage? _From what I remember, it should be the other way around." She crosses her arms, turning her head away to mumble the last words.

_I'm begging you_

She bared her fangs, and hissed. He jumped away, and scooted as far back to the wall of the container as he could.

"What, are you _afraid?"_ And then she laughed.

She _cackled. _Right at him.

He tried not to cry, and get his heart's beating under control.

He was taught to be an animal. She wasn't going to take that.

"Look guy. This is wrong, I can tell you that much. But as long as _I'm _here, no one's gonna be coming back in." She took the two bars, and bended them easily to a space big enough for him to climb out of. "So, go on! Before someone figures out about the 'No Stakes to the Heart' rule."

He eyed her, then the new door, then her again.

After so long since the last time he escaped, he can just walk out of his prison? It was some kind of trick, the Ring Master was testing him… she was going to come out of nowhere and have him beaten, or killed, or STARVED OR DROWNED OR EATEN OR-

"What are you just sitting there for?!"

_I'm begging you_

She lifted her hood above her head again, and scoffed, "Fine! I was just trying to help!" She raised from the ground, and disappeared faster than his eyes could take in.

He was hesitant at first. He hadn't stepped foot out of that cage in so long since his last liberal attempt.

Could he, _would he?_

He peeks his upper body out, then his lower, and swiftly drops to the trampled ground.

What if he was caught? What if he was kept in a dark room, where he would never be allowed to see sunlight again?

He looked over to the still Cyclops, but turned away before he could get emotional.

He wouldn't be caught if he ran fast enough, right?

He took only a couple of baby steps, before a voice shouts out from behind him.

He turned slowly, fear racing through him again.

Then a yellow dog, only half his height, is waving from the entrance to Ring Master's quarters. Had he been there the whole time?

"Are you going somewhere?" The dog was smiling, but not in an evil way. He didn't wait for an answer, though, "C'mon, let's get out of here before that chick comes back."

He's silent for a moment before whispering _"Who are you?"_

The dog's smile didn't fade, "I'm Jake."

_To be my escape_

**Thank you White-Wolf-Purple-Eyes as a beta, and I'll be getting back to you guys in two days with the second chapter.**

**IF YOU ARE A NEW READER, PLEASE DO NOT READ ON UNTIL CHAPTER 2 IS RE-UPOADED**


	2. Chapter 2

**Song: Monster by Skillet**

**Suggested by: A Heroes Honor**

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED**

_The secret side of me, I never let you see_

_I keep it caged but I can't control it_

_So stay away from me, the beast is ugly_

It hadn't taken much to get him out. It only took a pinch of super strength and a dash of crazy to do the work he'd always failed to complete.

If he were on his own though, he wouldn't stand much of a chance in any way. He knew no one or any place to call home. All he had to offer was a cage behind him, and a lifetime in front.

He was asked his name shortly after meeting the dog, but he didn't have an answer. He could call himself anything he wanted, yet it was just that he didn't _want _to be called anything after years of it.

That didn't sit too well with the guy "Jake", or the guy "Jermaine", or the thing "Beemo".

Couldn't they just understand he didn't even want to be _addressed _at all? He just wanted to hide under a blanket away from everything.

"Hey, Finn! Where'd ya go?" He hears a voice call from the hall.

He says nothing, looking out the window in the kitchen.

"What are you doing in here?" The yellow dog, Jermaine, asker from the doorway.

He turns around to see the dog that was leaning against the door frame only to hear him say "What are you looking at me like _that _for? I'm the one that feeds you," That, and Jermaine was gone.

Finn stares in his direction. He didn't like Jermaine, not even close to how he liked Jake.

Jake was nice.

"Finn! Y'ready for dinner?" the other yellow dog peers into the kitchen, a wide grin on his face.

He shrugged.

Finn followed Jake into a separate room, meant only for eating, and took a seat next to Beemo, the computer game who never actually ate anything.

"We've got_… ba-ba-ba-ba_! Meat Man Meat, in the form of steak!" Jake stretches his arms from the kitchen, placing a platter of cooked food in the center of the circular table.

"_Yes!_" Jermaine cheers, raising his fork and knife in the air.

Finn quietly shrank back from the dull blade's glare against the light, and closed his eyes tight almost expecting the knife to come near him.

_Didn't do anything, didn't mean to, didn't know… _He said in his head.

"Hey, Finn, you okay?" Jake asks, serving him slices of meat from the grand plate to his small porcelain dish.

He didn't say anything as he opened his eyes again, pulling the stocked plate closer to him. He saw his own set of utensils to eat his food set aside. Eyeing them, he picked up his own fork, and starts to prod the hunk of meat.

Jermaine catches him from the corner of his eye, "What are you _doing?"_

"Eating," He only whispered vaguely.

He scoffs, "No you're not. Here," He takes the fork from his hand making him flinch, and cuts his food for him. "There, see?"

He nods, just so he would stop talking to him.

Jermaine puts the fork back down on the plate, and continues eating his own food.

Finn didn't know what he'd been eating for the past two weeks, but it sure tasted good compared to what he _had _been eating.

He he'd been raised on half-cooked grain and murky water. But when he hit thirteen and his first escape, he was only given scraps from the employees from then on. By 15 he had gotten away once more, and forced to eat anything the Cyclopes didn't eat. A year later and he _did _successfully break free, what would he be going back to if he were caught?

Each time he was brought back they beat him- brutally. Sometimes he didn't do what they wanted him to and they used that as an excuse to take whatever they had on their minds out on him. They could starve him; they could do worse if they wanted. If he spoke when they were within hearing distance, he could face serious consequences. He could face worse…

In the end he feared physical touch. He feared speaking. He feared everything, because he _knew_ it would hurt him in every and any way possible. That was something he couldn't escape.

He held the utensil in his fist, trying to fix a piece into the prongs without success.

Jermaine groaned, "Seriously?"

He doesn't answer.

Jermaine put his hand on top of his, guiding the fork and easily picks up a piece. "Here comes the train, I guess." He slowly moves the food closer to his face.

Very close.

_Too close! _"GET AWAY!" Finn swatted his hand aside, and stood from the table.

"Whoa dude, calm down. He didn't do anything." Jake said, raising his hands.

"Freak, I was trying to _help!"_ Jermaine threw the fork across the room.

Finn pressed his hands over his ears, trying to block out their voices.

_I feel the rage and I just can't hold it_

_It's scratching on the walls, in the closet in the halls_

He ran out of the kitchen, and into his "Room". At least there he could curl up, and no one could do anything about it. No one would try to rip his arms away from around his knees, or make him look up from where his head could be buried in his own chest.

He slammed the door shut hard enough to make the room shake. Finn took the wooden chair and shoved it under the door-knob to keep them all out. He then drew in the curtains, creating as much darkness as possible.

He could see his own shadow cast on the wall by the small flame of the candle on his bed stand. Carefully, he bent over, and blew out the light with a tiny huff of a breath.

There comes a rapping on his door, "FINN! C'MON OUT! JERMAINE'S SORRY!" he recognizes the voice as Jake's.

He struggles with it, but makes it. _"NO!" _He cried out, wiping the falling tears from his eyes.

He didn't want that life, living in constant fear. He didn't know how to be _brave_, how to stand up, or how to do anything but hide in the clear of a cage.

"Finn, _please _come out," The computerized voice of none other than Beemo chirps up from outside.

He ripped off his brand new shirt and hurled it into the closet, then went his shoes and shorts. Finn didn't want to feel restrained, not _then_, not _ever_, not anymore.

He lets out a cross between a howl and a cry, and slams his fists against the wall, wishing it would break his bones. All it did was creating a painful ache in his arms, but that only made him hit harder. Finn was never proud to be human, all it did was cause him hunger, tears, and _agony._ Memories of a life he had always lived couldn't be outrun, how could they expect him to forget so quickly? Had they _been there?_ Had they been _human_ at some point? He knew nothing other than what he'd experienced caged as an animal, only animal nature and traits! Just like an animal that would have gone through what he did, _all he knew was violence, hunger, and pain._

He wanted to run from everything and start over, but why couldn't he?

But wasn't that what he was supposed to be doing now? _Starting_ _over_?

Maybe it was too late for him…

_It comes awake and I can't control it_

_Hiding under the bed_

_In my body in my head_

He beats himself against the wall until he gave up on that, then went to breaking the furniture and tearing at his accessible skin with his nails and teeth. He's numb when he crawled under his mattress to hopefully lie there forever.

Then someone picked him up in what had to have been moments…

He doesn't know how they got into the room, he was too tired to give it a second though.

_Why won't somebody save me from this_

_Make it end_

"Great, now y'see what y'did?" Jake yells at his brother, trying to open the door again. "You called him a freak, you scared him, and you yelled at him, you pissed _me_ off! You're really taking this to the edge, okay?!_"_

"I told you I was sorry! I was only trying to help!"

"You helped him by insulting him, _right_?! He's gotten enough without your help; he doesn't NEED that from you!"

"I didn't MEAN to!" Jermaine covered his eyes in shame, _"I'm sorry."_

Jake sighed, "All right, fine."

Yet another scream came from inside the room.

"Glob," He moaned, "I can't stand this!"

Jermaine frowned, "We should wait it out, he has to stop sometime soon."

Jake started pacing in the hallway, the hardwood floor boards creaking under him. "I tried to _help _him, Jermaine, this definitely isn't _helping _him; he's scared out the _wazzoo! _I know taking him back there'll be like-" another tortured screech, "_ugh. _Like murder."

"We could give him to someone else, maybe they could take care of him for us?"

"No you son of a bitch!"

"We _both _are sons of a bitch." Jermaine you smart little dog…

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT! " He kicked the wall, "FINN! C'MON OUT, JERMAIN'S SORRY!"

A pained wail echoes out a _"NO!"_

They wait about an hour, until the screaming and banging finally came to an end.

_I feel it deep within_

_It's just beneath the skin_

_I must confess that I feel like a monster_

She found herself perched like a bird in the highest branch of a birch tree, overlooking the valley with a single house near the center.

She'd been there for at the least a day and a night, going on her second.

Of course she followed the two dogs and the human there, she's the one that set him free, she had the _right_ to know where the kid ended up.

Suddenly, screams echo through the valley. Out of instinct, her hands reach for her hood to cover her face, but it takes a moment for her to remember no one could possibly see her.

That's when she realized the piercing shrieks were coming from the home. There probably wasn't anyone else for miles around.

She released her grip, and let the hood fall back down to her shoulders. Leaning as far as she could out from the branches, she craned her neck to see the lit house had a window that had gone dark.

Much later she shifted into a bat, and flew the branches. The screaming had been going on for several minutes at that point, and she was getting curious.

She landed herself on the dying rose bush that grew outside the window, watching from the outside.

"_No you son of a bitch!"_ The shorter one yelled.

They argue on while a handheld game ran and hid under the couch.

Things went on for a while until nothing but silence came from the home.

The smaller dog knocked on the door a few times and turned the knob, but it would not open. The other did the same as he, but to no greater success.

She melted back into her normal form, stepping away from the bush and to the front step.

_Knock, knock. _Pause. _Knock. _"Hell_oo?_"

She could hear their whispers before the taller dog called out "Who is it?"

Marceline shut her eyes and heavily sighed, "I am the evil spirit of the night, open up."

_I hate what I've become_

_The nightmares just begun_

"OH MY GLOB!" Then the door was slammed right back in her face. "JAKE, THERE'S THE VAMPIRE OUTSIDE!"

"_OH MY GLOB WE'RE GONNA DIE."_

"_JAKE, WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!"_

They both started screaming.

That was what always happened when her face was shown. She couldn't even get a soda from the Squeeze-E-Mart sometimes, you know.

But the door wasn't locked, so she walked into the home, making sure to rid her shoes of dirt before walking on the floor.

_I must confess that I feel like a monster_

She strode past them running out of the living room and into the kitchen, and to the supposedly locked door they'd been trying to get into.

She snapped the thing off its hinges, and walked inside the room dark as pitch.

Her nose led her to the familiar boy hidden under the bed. He was at that time curled in the fetal position.

The scent of blood on him was stronger than what she was expecting.

The bed she shoved to the opposite side of the room. He was then gathered in her arms, and carried all eighty pounds of him into the living room.

She dropped him on the couch, where he only then paid her any mind.

"You," She pointed at Jermaine, "do you have a First Aid Kit?" Because she knew those guys knew next to nothing about First Aid, she would do it herself.

_I, I feel like a monster_

She wrapped the last bandage around Finn's forearm after cleaning the blood off him from where he had bitten, and taken out the splinters from… well, she wasn't sure how he got those stuck in him because Finn wouldn't say.

"Are you alright?" She asked him, tied the neck of a plastic bag with all the toilet paper she used on him.

He kept his eyes cast down, folding his arms on his lap.

"Okay…" She breathed sarcastically, tossing Jake the bag, "Get rid of that for me."

Jermaine suddenly shouted "Why would you bring him here, Jake?! We can't do this!"

Jake said "I couldn't let him stay there, _Jermaine."_

"An injured animal," He gestures to Finn, "is more dangerous than a healthy one."

"We're safe, you butt!"

"Safe? Look at what he did to _himself! _Imagine what he could do to you, or me!"

Jake yells "It DOESN'T matter!"

_I, I feel like a monster_

Finn looked up at the three of them, feeling ashamed and guilty for bringing on the argument.

"If there anything you need?" She asked him softy, trying to get his attention.

He only looked at her. Nothing else.

She didn't _understand_ him. Was he angry at here and refused to speak, or was he just too afraid? She could help him, but his silence was screaming that he didn't want that.

"Just sit there, then." She stood up from the couch, and shoved Jermaine, "You're going to take care of him."

"I never asked him to come here!"

"I don't _care!" _She glanced back at Finn, "He doesn't have anywhere to go and _I _obviously can't take him."

"He isn't my responsibility! If anyone, he's Jake's!"

Jake quickly left to throw out the plastic bag.

Marceline pinched the bridge of her nose, "Your brother can hardly take care of himself, and I just _met_ him."

Jermaine frowned, "I'm _not _taking care of him."

"Then I'm staying as long as I need to!"

Jermaine didn't respond, instead storming out of the room.

_My secret side I keep_

_His under lock and key_

_I keep it caged but I can't control it_

'_Cause if I let him out he'll tear me up and break me down_

Some nights when Finn was in the cage during the winter, it got really cold. On those nights he wanted so badly for someone, _anyone,_ to hold him.

Over time he learned to never want someone touching him, because that usually meant pain wouldn't be too far away.

So, when Marceline came back with a huge blanket, he got hopeful. But when she gave it to him, she also turned out the lights and lay on the floor.

That's when the guilt really hit him.

Finn rolled off the couch and onto the ground, and then crawled over the vampire. He draped the blanket over the both of them, and lay next to her.

"What are you doing?" She whispered.

"_I'm sorry."_

_Why won't somebody come and save me from this_

_Make it end_

The next morning Jake woke up early, and set off to make coffee for the morning. But when he stepped into the living room, he had to stretch himself over the two who were sleeping on the floor, unconsciously cuddling and sleeping peacefully.

The previous night when he went to bed was the polar opposite of their image. He had thought hard about Finn while lying awake in his bed for hours.

Was it right for him to have taken Finn in without thinking about _who _else would be effected, or would it have been worse if he left him to fend for himself?

In their argument the night before, Jermaine had a point and even he knew that very clearly. They _couldn't_ take care of a human, let alone one like Finn. It was obvious, like an ink stain, that Finn was a hazard to himself and others.

What if he, or Jermaine, did something horribly wrong, but never realized it? Would it show in Finn, could he get any worse than he already was?

What if Finn was just as doomed with them than if he wasn't…?

_I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin_

_I must confess that I feel like a monster_

**A/N: Thank you White-Wolf-Purple-Eyes for the edits, two daaaays until chapter 3…**


	3. Chapter 3

**Song: Breakeven (Falling to Pieces) by The Script**

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED, THANK YOU VERY MUCH**

_I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing_

Those years were all he had to remembered, he had nothing else that stood out in his mind.

He wished that those other years wouldn't be so hazy.

_Just praying to a god that I don't believe in_

Most of the days he spent in the circus, he didn't know what to believe. He wasn't sure if the fact that he could still see the sunrise meant something good, or not. He didn't know if the searing pain of the new scars on his back told him he was still alive, or closer to death.

He didn't know which to be thankful for- the breaths he took in, or the ones he let go.

He could so _vividly_ recall the times when he spoke aloud. He could see that whip still, if he thought of it.

He remembers closing his eyes when people he didn't know ripped the stained shirt off him, and forced him to sit upright.

That's what he _desperately_ wanted to forget and move on from. But the long, thick, pale damage would always be there; simply ensuring that those memories were as deep in his memory as in his own flesh.

At least he couldn't see them directly with his own eyes- he didn't know what he'd do then.

'_Cause I got time while she got freedom_

She wasn't able to recall any time when she'd been locked away with no seeable escape during the last millennium or so. She was always aware of her free will and nothing else.

But then again, she was near alone when her mother was killed, and practically abandoned by her father. Really, there wasn't anyone to keep her contained for long- she was free to do whatever, which was nothing more than a plus.

She was a queen, she could do what she _wanted_.

'_Cause when her heart breaks no it don't break even_

Of course she was shattered when she came home one day to see her mother's corpse. She was only about eight at the time and could hardly remember, anyway.

She found her mother in _her _bed, clutching _her _Hambo in a hand extended from her body. She found her mother with a glassy-eyed stare to the ceiling, frozen in her last position.

Yes, she was crushed to come home to that. It was worse because she _knew _it was bound to happen, she was just hoping it wouldn't for longer than that.

There was freedom from then on; loving and hating everything she came across.

_Her best days will be some of my worst_

He'd had a lot of days marked inside, some were forgotten the day his bars were bent back.

The good ones he had were spent alone, usually during the summer when he was left outside in the sunlight- it was the greatest compared to what went on all other times of the year. Good days were when the Cyclops wasn't feeling generous.

_While I'm wide awake she's no trouble sleeping_

Finn was surprised to find himself encased in someone else's arms, it shocked his heart into an extra beat when he opened his eyes for the first time that morning.

For a while he stared at her pale, peaceful blue face for who knows how long. He'd memorized the way her onyx black hair curled in beautiful, choppy jagged hair waved around the both of them like a blanket. He didn't remember that last time he had a blanket.

"Hey, you awake?" Somebody whispered from the doorway.

He sat up quietly, trying not to wake the other.

"Cool, thought you might've been dead," He sees now that Jake, too afraid to come in the room, is hidden behind the wall of the kitchen. "So… how's life?"

He sighed, rubbing his eyes to rid them of fog. He rest back down, closer to the vampire so they were spooned together, face down in the carpet.

"What, aren't you hungry?"

He groaned into the fabric, too comfortable to get up.

'_Cause when her heart breaks no it don't break even, even_

Alright, maybe she didn't _break even. _She most definitely, all the way through, lost and gained things with her mother gone.

To put it at its core, she gained a lot more than she realized.

But never _ever_ would she say aloud her mom was a small thing to lose. She lived on without her, much easier without the other dragging her down, but her mother was still her _mother._

She wasn't around long. Marceline always knew she'd outlive her by decades, but she wasn't ready to go home and find her like that.

_And what am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you?_

Her dad didn't care, he _never _cared!

And the best part, was that _she _didn't care either. She didn't need anyone to show her where to go; she'd find the way on her own!

With her mom gone, and her dad… _away; _she was free to take over a kingdom of Vampires, rule over them, and terrorize people all over the Land of Ooo to her tiny dark heart's fill.

And then she saw the blue eyes that ruined everything for her; there was no way she could escape them.

_And what am I supposed to say, when I'm all choked up and you're okay?_

There was a thing he was introduced to, called a _toilet _that made his bladder seem harder to control. It wasn't the "Go Wherever You Want" he was used to. There were _expectations _when you know what a toilet is, he learned.

So, he was forced by the both the dull pain in his forearms and pressure in his bladder to rise up from his oh-so comfortable situation on the floor, and make his way slowly to the bathroom.

That was where he cried half his tears from the memory of nobody picking him up when he fell in his own Boom-Boom. _Bad memories._

"Hey, Finn, you in there?" The deep, flipping scary voice calls from the other side of the door.

He hesitates, "Uh, yeah." _Oh no he wasn't thinking he shouldn't have said anything they were going to hurt him oh no oh no oh NO OH NO OH N-_

"I… I just wanted to say I'm sorry about Last night… really." Jermaine said leaning against the door. "So that's all."

"It's okay." He said quickly, staring at the door wondering when was the right time to come out.

He heard the dog walk away down the hall after a moment of silence.

Silently, he pulled the bathroom door open to the empty, dark hallway.

Quickly, his bare feet padded into the living room, he was doing his best to go unnoticed. And yes, it was extremely easy until he met his destination.

"I shouldn't have stayed here," She whispered from the floor, hugging a throw pillow. "I should've gone when I heard you from across the field."

He looked across to her, his blue eyes unfazed. "You wouldn't have come back."

She laughed humorlessly, "Right, right." Folding her legs together, glaring down at the carpet. "I would still be around, but you wouldn't _see_ me."

He searches for the right word in his small vocabulary. "Invisible?"

She just shrugs, "Sure,"

He walked over to her, carefully sitting on the other side of the couch facing her with the same position with his knees to his chest. In a whisper, _"Would you?"_ He questioned, only out of curiosity. He wished she would come back. He didn't want her to leave. It was the feeling of peace around her. After a life of fear, he wasn't about to let this shred of light that was her just float away that easily.

She snapped her blood red eyes up to meet his, thinking for an extra second. "Maybe,"

He wanted to say something deep and emotional, but decided it wasn't a good idea.

They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the other's presence. Maybe she'd stay, maybe she'd leave. He _wanted_ her to stay, Jake wasn't enough protection from his past. His past wasn't _easy_ to keep away.

"So… how're your arms?" She inquired after a bit, breaking the peace.

He looked down at the stained pink bandaged wrapped below his elbows, hiding the horror beneath. At least he didn't need to actually see them. They would most likely need to be changed soon. He shrugged.

"They don't like, hurt, or sting or anything? I would have taken a pain-killer if I were you."

His entire head comes up, eyes wide. _"Pain killers?"_ If the name was like anything they actually were, he'd-

It was her turn to look confused. "Y'know, it's like a pill?"

"Where _are _they?" He demanded.

She saw a very good reason not to tell him.

_I'm falling to pieces_

He's had years on end with burning pain, physical and mental. And now, all the sudden, he finds out there's this thing he can take to just _STOP_ it in its tracks?! What did he do to deserve this sentence? Maybe he was already dead, maybe _this_ was his _punishment_.

He's got a lot to say to that Ring Master.

"Well, they can be addictive." She said slowly, trying to get him to understand before it was too late.

Addictive, that was it? Addicted to tranquility? Was that supposed to be a _bad_ thing?

"Do you even _know?" _He hisses, standing. It was too late, damn… He could feel the peace quickly fleeing, he was chasing it away.

"I don't think I do," How will she reason with this she contemplates, biting her lip like a child.

"Want a _picture?_" Then fuming, he yanked his shirt over his head, turning his back to her.

He'd never shown anyone it before, he didn't want anyone to see it. It was something good people shouldn't _know_ about, it was something meant to be kept secret. It was something meant for him, and him only.

No one else should know…

_I'm falling to pieces_

She didn't know what torture was like. All she knew was that it was the consequence of spitting on the ground while she walked through her Kingdom.

She wasn't aware that torture was _that._

And honestly, who could do that kind of thing to anyone she began to contemplate as she stared.

No, who could do that to a _human. _They were the weakest, most flimsy creatures she'd even come across; shying away a small flame, crying over a broken bone, wincing at needles. You should see the things _she's _gone through.

Humans felt pain- r_eal _pain. So, she was always merciful when she found one during the old days. Just a snap of the neck- no pain, no second thoughts, quick and merciful. She could've done worse.

So gazed upon those scars lashed amidst his back, she was at loss of what _he's _been through, too.

_They say bad things happen for a reason_

Jake froze in the doorway. He wasn't ready to see _that _either.

He _just _put clothes on that kid while he was asleep, and then he yanks it off? What a lack of courtesy!

They are all silent. Quiet, noiseless, still. Finn had to turn back around after a minute to make sure she was still there. He wasn't ready for her to leave. She couldn't leave. _Please don't let her leave._

"That's my _life_." His voice broke. He wanted to curl in around himself in a dark space and wish that it would be over soon. _When will it end?_

He's never spoken so much in years. Days of pain and suffering it would cost him, days of torture he inflicted on himself.

He waited for her answer patiently, "Than I'm glad I'm not human." That hurt all around.

He growls lowly, shoving the hair from his eyes, "You're crazy!"

She was crazy. She was almost as insane as him.

He wasn't aware of _why _those things happened to him_. _There couldn't be a reason for it. There's no reason for anything like that to happen to someone so perfectly innocent.

What he wanted the most was the freedom he'd never have- they were holding it away from him. They were afraid of what he'd do with it. What would happen to him if he got it, who would force him to kneel? Who would strike him down? Who would make him cry out, who would make him _beg_?

_But no wise words gonna stop the bleeding_

Her mother always told her good things.

How much she loved her.

How she'd take a bullet for her.

How beautiful she was.

How everything happened because it needed to.

No matter what she said, nothing was going to prepare her for her mother's death. Nothing her mom would say could stop the tears that rained down. Never would anything said to her help her out of that kind of ditch but the promise of someone else to fill her place.

She did find someone, but he was long gone…

'_Cause she's moved on while I'm still grieving_

The next thing he knew were a pair of slim yet strong arms strangling him. _Strangling him, trying to kill him, too tight TOO CLOSE TOUCHING HIM GETTING HIM KILLING HIM._

"GET AWAY! _GET AWAY!"_ He screamed, trying to rip himself from the grasp. He twisted his torso around, his eyes squeezed tight. He shouted his heart out, but the arms around him only get stronger. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" What he couldn't understand, was a caring touch, from a harmful one. _That_ was what he got for talking. That was what he got for letting his guard down. _This is what he gets for leaving that cage._

_Cause when her heart breaks no it don't breakeven_

He had dragged them both down to the floor. _He shouldn't have left._ Why won't she just let him go? _He's in this for life._ Can't they understand he doesn't like to be held, he doesn't like being touched? He's terrified of it. _Too afraid._ Can't they understand that all he expects it pain?

He felt the tears, the stupid tears prickle at the corners of his eyes. _No, don't cry, don't cry._ It was better not to cry for the people who hurt you and wanted to see your tears.

Ear-splitting sobs echo throughout the little house, make their way through the field.

He was too far gone to be repaired. This was no "Humpty-Dumpy Will Be Put Back Together Again", kind of boy. That was how things were. That was how things were always going to be

She realized that he was broken in to many pieces to be repaired.

_Even, no._


	4. Chapter 4

**Song- Iridescent by Linkin Park**

**Suggested by Spottedfang**

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED, THANK YOU VERY MUCH**

**(You may also read on, revisions are done)**

_You were standing in the wake of devastation _

He had given up hope long before Marceline showed up. He had been positive that the bars would always be what he'd see first and last each day. As time went on, he began to respect the strength they had to keep him confined.

He knew for a fact that the cage he sat in _day_ after _day_ was home, it was what kept him safe from the horrors of the reality he never knew. The world outside those bars wouldn't be so dangerous, if it only had a hero.

He had grown accustomed to the eternal silence that was himself. He didn't see a real _need_ in speaking anymore if it only caused him pain.

But those blood-red eyes glowing from the dark shadows of her cloak woke his voice back to his mouth, wishing to be sung aloud. He knew at that time that he had to speak, no matter how many lashes were taken across his flesh.

Marceline had only stood there for a moment with her hood down for screams to be exchanged; she only needed to _be there_ for him to escape his confinement.

He no longer needed the bars to make him feel safe; all he required was her to be around him to ward evil from his fragile state.

All he needed was her, but she was bound to leave him behind some day. She was what he needed most of all- more than food, water, or warmth. She would keep him safe longer than anyone or anything, ever before.

_You were waiting on the edge of the unknown_

Finn had kept his mind and patience for only the year he had been captured. He faintly remembered the peace he sat in for hours at a time, quietly chatting with the Cyclops and on-lookers, accepting anything given to him.

To simply put it, he wasn't aware of what it meant to be held in a cage. He was like, _nine. _He liked to talk- _a lot_.

That tie was severed quickly.

He didn't _know. _Nobody _warned _him. So how was he supposed to know _not _to snap at Ring Master?

He could recall _very _clearly the faceless men that tore him from his bars, and tied the fiber ropes around his wrists. He could still remember them ripping the shirt down his back to show his flawless skin.

He could still see the glint of light from the valuable gemstones in the handle of the whip when it was raised above his head.

That's as far as he could remember. He _knew_ what they did, but he didn't remember _when_,the _length of time, _or _how_.

No matter the downs, no further the ups, he was glad he didn't reminisce.

He was there, he was hurt, he was fed, he was cared for… if he sat still, didn't speak unless spoken to, maybe he wouldn't have had a problem.

But he was finally away from there. Everything was going to be better.

But even there, he couldn't help but deny his choice- He should have stayed in the cage.

He would be good if he stayed, he would be quiet, he would stay still, he wouldn't shout back. He would take what was given to him and enjoy it- that would happen because he finally learned that was what they wanted from him.

He would be the docile animal they expected of him.

_With the cataclysm raining down_

She was Queen of the Vampires.

She ruled over thousands of an all-powerful race. With the single flick of her eyes towards you, you could be killed or turned into one of hers.

After about 200 years of a good rule in her kingdom, she started to see what a dreadful place it was. With all the pale people in their black clothes, fighting each other out of boredom, sucking something dry, or just moping around, she saw what a _tragic _place it was.

So to solve that problem, she left. She was gone one evening, her kingdom left in the Vamp-Council's hands for the next century. She no longer had to look upon the bland kingdom that would belong to her until the day she died.

_Insides crying "Save Me Now"_

Please understand.

He doesn't _want _your help.

He doesn't _want _your empathy.

He does NOT want you to "feel bad" or "sorry".

He just wants you to LEAVE HIM _ALONE._

So _why _don't you understand that? Why don't _they?_

Can't they all just… pretend he's not there? Other people have done that for an amount of time, before he was shut away.

Leave him alone.

What did the dogs want form him? He wasn't going to speak to them, he wasn't going to thank them, and he's not going to laugh along with them when a joke was told. He liked them, but he didn't want to be harassed to comply in their rituals of existence.

Jake only fed him.

Beemo liked to talk to him (even though he didn't talk back).

Marceline held him, cared for him, and told him interesting things all the time.

Jermaine was scary, he didn't like Jermaine. He never did.

_You were there impossibly alone_.

As much as he wanted it, he was never alone.

He found himself on the outer edge of Jermaine's field with Marceline. He sat in the high grass with his legs outstretched leaning back, held up by her leaning on him.

His Body-Clock had permanently changed from wakening him in the mornings, to now waking up with Marceline in the evening.

He felt more open, and free outside of the home, but still felt safe with the vampire with him. A gentle breeze rolled by, rippling the waves of grain beyond the two. It was a chilly wind, winter was coming.

The sun had set behind the mountains that were raised around them, the dark sky lit with an endless amount of stars in every direction. The _"Milky Way Galaxy" _she told him, had more stars than they could ever imagine, and they were only looking at a handful of them.

"The humans called the shapes the stars are aligned in, _constellations." _She continued, gazing up at the twinkling luminaries.

"Constellations," He repeats, leaning his head back on her shoulder, "for?"

She shrugs, "From older times of Humans, they were searching for answers Science couldn't give them. So, they made up stories by finding shapes in the sky. Like Orion," She points to a cluster of three stars as his belt. "His girlfriend killed him by accident I think."

He laughed quietly, "Whoops,"

"Yeah," She grinned, searching for another to tell him. "Oh, there's Aquarius. But I don't know what he does, I think he just hangs around."

"Mm," He folds his hands on his lap staring at the belt of Orion. "Why would she kill?"

"Her brother dared her to shoot this thingy a while's away, and it turned out it was her boyfriend… the end."

He turned his head a special way to look at her. "What?"

"Oh don't worry about it," She laughed, ruffing his blonde locks. She didn't usually bother around with the history of constellations.

He grumbled without saying anything, going back to where he left off in the skies.

"Seas?" He asked, running his hands lightly over the tips of the grass.

"They're these _huge _lakes that go on forever," She told him, gesturing to the open space.

"Where is it?"

She paused for a moment, "All _around. _Ooo's an island, so whichever way you go, just walk on until you get to water.

He thought about clear water like what he drank form a cup at the edge of ta green prairie, just the clear white from then on. He's never even seen a _lake, _so what would an _ocean _be like?

"I wanna see one," He stated, rising from the ground.

She yelped, falling back in his absence.

She floated from the terrain, coming to eye level with him. "It's a good walk away, the ocean,"

"Jakey comes!"

Her face scrunches up in thought for minutes at a time; but he was patient, he could wait.

She sighed, "Fine, but you might not like it!"

He smiled wider than his face could handle. How could he _not _like something he's never seen before?

He wasn't afraid to jump a hug at her, for that moment, even if it was only for a split second.

Even if it was only a flash of touch, his arms willingly wrapped around her. He actually smiled… she made him feel happy.

(Score!)

Then he was running off to wake and tell Jake that they needed a ride. She picked up her cloak that was shed from the ground, and quickly flew towards the house to make sure Finn didn't wake Jake again by shaking him, because the last time it didn't end well.

_Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?_

Not even she was sure why she was still hanging around. Maybe it was because of the Human. He always, _always _was near her and he didn't even realize it, clinging to her side, looking back on their walks at night to see if she was still behind him. She didn't want to just ditch him there and make it seem like she didn't care.

She just wanted to make sure he had a productive life after liberation. She only wanted him to be _happy, _and if taking him to see the ocean would do that- get your bathing-suit.

That was _all _she wanted.

_You build up hope but failures all you've known_

He didn't care that his life had been a black hole that sucked all the happiness and light out of everything. He was in a better place, and that was all that had to matter.

He spent six years stacking up his hope for a rescue only for it to be knocked down on his seventh year- _that _year. He gave up his hope mere months too early.

_Remember all the sadness and frustration_

"_Pst! Cyclops guy!" _he whispered, crawling as far as he could to the edge of the enclosure.

It sat facing the wall, turned away from the human. Its head was bowed under its shoulders in defeat, its legs pulled it its chest. It was huddled in the corner of its cage, shaking with near silent sobs.

"_Cyclops Man! Over here!" _ He says again, wishing for a rock to throw and get his attention.

Only a shattered whimper escapes from its figure. It pulls in on itself tighter; holding itself from what wasn't visible.

It had been like this all night now, and he needed some sleep. But how could _anyone _sleep with those sobs plaguing their dreams to nightmares?

"_I'm tired!" _The human groaned, leaning his head out through the bars.

He waited patiently only out of fatigue, his eyes half lidded.

The moon glowed brightly through the clouds like the bony hands of a spirit, reaching out to the both of them. Only one hoped that they were the stairs to a better place.

"_Don't forget," _It cried loudly after a while, slowly turning to face him, _"If you forget, they'll take you apart,"_

He backs away into the shadows of his enclosure, unable to rip his gaze from the Cyclops's face.

It wasn't often that the Cyclops was kept in the same section of the tent as he was. At night he sometimes heard cries, screams, and laughter coming from the Cyclops's part. Looking at its face, he began to wonder what went on during those noisy evenings.

He felt the stinging of tears well up, and spill over from his eyes.

It was something terrifying.

It was something you cower from.

His own weeps of fear come harmoniously with the Cyclops', like the howls of Wolves in the night.

"_Don't you _dare _forget, boy. You have to remember, or else your world will become a darker than ever," _It begs, rubbing its hands over the deep wounds and scars that covered its body and face

He knew he couldn't forget, but he wished he couldn't remember.

_And let it go._

He stood with his arms crossed, only inches away from her. His new, navy blue sweat shirt was zipped down with his hood up.

On the horizon, the sun had started to rise with fiery colors ranging from a simple bonfire, to an inferno. As soon as the deep purple of the sky had erupted to flames, the strange birds erupted into a melody as if on cue.

The ocean wasn't what he thought it would be. It wasn't clear like the water he drank- it was the purest of indigo he could think of, combined with the beauty of Marceline and the peaceful sound of waves slowly crashing in front of them- this was where he wished to be forever.

Then there was the ultimate force of fear that almost obscured his outlook on the place to a horror land of pure evil, than one of magnificence.

"What're you standing over here for?" She asks, nudging his shoulder. "Go splash around in the shallows, or look for fish. Or why don't you make use of yourself and go find something red for me? I'm starving."

He shivers with the next snake of wind, balling his hands to fists under his arms, "Cold,"

She just shrugs, "It's got to be only forty degrees out here, how could you be _cold?" _She flips her hair from her eyes staring aimlessly over the sea.

"You?"

"I'm always cold."

He zippered up his jacket, trying to clench his teeth to hide their chattering. He was still cold.

No, it was nothing compared to the icy nights he's been through- he was wearing nothing but pants and his old hat that he ripped apart to use as gloves. But at least now he had a jacket, no matter how thin it was, and shoes, and a shirt.

What he wanted was a hat, a hat that would cover his golden locks and neck, so no one would stare at him. He wanted a hat that would shield others from his identity as a human- he doesn't want another seven years of frozen fingers and toes.

He squinted his eyes with the light of the shining sun, then standing alone on the sand of the beach without a sleeping Marceline to be listening to, he has just the continuous rolling in and out of the Ocean.

He yawned loudly, rubbing his eyes as he finally walks over to her under the shade of a tree just beyond the sand.

He reasoned with himself only a moment before he gave in, and crawled up next to her, and into her cloak. Why was _he _the only one this cold?

_Let it go_

He gripped his hands tightly trying to bring feeling back into them, his body tremored with the weather, forcing him to hunch with each howl of the wind, and gasp when one runs its ghostly finger along his cheek bone. He breathed in and out, trying to think warm thoughts like he did in his cell.

It won't work with a cloak around him like a blanket shared between the two.

He didn't have the heart to wake up Jake, who was hogging every blanket they brought with them.

_And in the burst of light that blinded every angel _

_As if the sky had blown the heavens into stars_

One more hit.

His cry was un-yielded when it burst from his lips.

The unspeakable, all-consuming agony tore his mind and body to pieces. No one his age was supposed to feel that kind of pain, he should be dead.

"_That should teach you not to talk back _to me_." _

He tried not to cry at first, he wanted to be strong. But after the first swipe, the first break through his young skin, his screams of pure suffering were heard by all (but no one was around to save him).

He was left to kneel there, drowning in his own tears, his back burning, wet, and bloody.

"_You should be thankful that it was _me_, this time." _She said, obvious cruelty behind it.

He didn't reply, he was too afraid. What if she gave him another couple gashes to go along with the ones he'd already gotten, only on his handsome face?

He would be like the Cyclops, perhaps- they hurt him only to make him more _"interesting"_ to look at.

Colors were detonating in the dark behind his eyelids, like stars in the night.

All he said when she leaned next to him in her tight red dress was-

"_S-sorry."_

Her coal black eyes were unfazed at his word, only a snap of her fingers showed she heard him.

The last hit, a last tortured shriek.

Her cold eyes were what he remembered. Not like the Cyclops's broken one, or Marceline's dangerous, or Jake's caring. Just hers.

Only hers.

He feared them more than anything.

_You felt the gravity of temper grace_

_Falling into empty space_

_No there to catch you in their arms_

_Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?_

_You build up hope but failures all you've known_

"Finn," Jake whispered, shaking him awake in the last hours of day.

"Mm?" Is all he said

"Dude, you're sleeping in the same piece of clothing as a _female vampire. _Are you cracked?"

He said nothing to that.

Jake is silent for a second, "Yeah I thought so too but I was afraid to say it,"

Jake didn't want to come here, it was FREEZING! Well, he wasn't a cat, but still… Finn might as well have been by the way he was shivering.

_Remember all the sadness and frustration_

Jermaine was the kind of guy who remembers everything. He can recall all the things his brother Jake had, and not him.

But he also memorized all the things _he _had, not Jake. Like he had a _house. _He had a _valley. _And without those things you're done for. Jake had been on his own for eight years until they ran into each other at Chickenblood Cove for the Chicken Parade, where they hand out free eggs.

Which was why _Jake _was there. He had been living on nothing.

Blood-Tied, he _had _to take him in; no matter how much he despised him at times. Still, he loved Jake, and would hate for him to leave.

But he'd finally have a place to put the rest of his books if Jake left…

It was frustrating at times, but Jake was all the family he had now with their mom and dad gone.

He was willing to pay the prices to have his brother with him like they used to be; even if it meant taking in an insane human, and an extremely adorable Beemo.

He was willing to let go of his brother, just not yet.

_And let it go_

_Let it go_


	5. Chapter 5

**Song: My Skin by Natalie Merchant**

** Suggested by: kaitlynmagic**

**5 minutes of song to convert into story? WHAT?**

_Take a look at my body_

_Look at my hands_

A blind man could count each rib on his chest, along with each slow breath he took not to stretch the fragile skin on his back. A blind man could see what he's been through by just a touch to his raised cheekbones, his hollowed face. If he could hear his frightened, ruined voice, he would have tears streaming down his own face. That's what a blind man would know.

If a deaf man could see him in the night, he would thank whatever gifted him with his disability from the howls he saw the thing create. If a deaf man could see him, he would stare long and hard from a distance, trying to comprehend why the figure in the cage was unmoving in the evening. That's what a deaf man would see.

But if a normal man from anywhere, however old, saw him, maybe even heard him- that man would laugh. He would double over with laugher at the mere sight of that thing! With its tangled mop of hair all over the place, pacing around in a circle like a dog for minutes at a time, picking and sniffing stuff from its ears.

It.

Was.

Hilarious.

And how it dug its octopus like things on its hands all over its body was too funny.

So, which are _you?_

Are you going to touch him? Are you going to stare at him? Are you going to _laugh _at him?

He prefers you laugh at him.

_There's so much here that I don't understand_

She didn't get why the color Red was a disgrace to eat. It tasted _fine._

She also didn't understand why Blood was so flipping delicious.

Actually, there's _a lot _that she didn't comprehend. Like that Lumpy Space Princess who's rarely seen. Why was she such a bit-

Marceline the Vampire Queen does not enjoy the company of Lump Space People. They're always in her face, pointing their fingers, shouting gossip like their lives depended on it.

She will END their lives! By smashing their cell-phones of course… They have no blood because they have no soul, and without a soul you have no heart to pump blood.

But anyway, there were many things in the Land of Ooo that she really only wanted to ignore, because she wasn't really able to wrap her mind around a good half of it.

Like, why in the world do humans scream like children at the first ray of sunlight that hits their eyes in the early morning? It's almost like it hurts them.

"Stop whining like a baby," She groans as he rubs his eyes from the lit candle's light.

"Hard," Is all he says? Why won't he talk more than a word?

She didn't get why_ this _human in particular answered in one word sentences. Maybe he was just too lazy to complete them, and expected you to figure out what he meant.

"No, it's _not _hard to whine, just keep your mouth closed," She hisses, draping yet another blanket across his shoulders. "How are you so cold, anyway?"

"Dunno," He murmurs, pulling the cloth around him tighter.

The candle was out with the next breath of wind leaving the two in the near dark. Jake had gone home after he found out that there was no shower, leaving Finn and Marceline to fend for themselves at the land's edge.

"Well then humans should adapt better," She ties a belt of seaweed around her waist to keep her cloak closed, "Like this. If I were to be stranded alone in the wild with three other people, I would be the one to survive,"

He asks, "Why?"

"Two reason," She holds up one finger, "First, I wouldn't kill another for food" And her second finger, "I'm a genius,"

She's a genius. Don't doubt her.

"Kill for food?" He lies down on his side facing her, wanting more information.

"Yeah, vampires depend on blood to live," She explains, crawling closer to him, "See?" She forces his bare arm out from under the countless quilts. Tracing over the blue vein at his wrist right below the bandage, "Blood is the red stuff that comes out when you get cut, right? Vampires drink that crud,"'

He winds his limb back into his cocoon, "No Meat Man meat?"

"Nah, we don't care about that stuff. But we'll drink his blood,"

He turns over to his stomach, looking up at her from under his locks of golden hair, "You don't,"

She is silent for a moment, "No, I don't,"

_Your face-saving promises, whispered like prayers_

His face was handsome. That's what she always told him.

His sky blue eyes with a tint of lime green at the edges that lit up against his golden-haired head. His full, perfect lips that always were plastered to each other, holding back the cries of fear. His heart shaped face, wrapping all of his features into a nice little package. He had a very handsome face, which many of the young women that visited his cage fell in love with.

He doesn't know what _love _is.

"_Don't worry, you won't be hurt anywhere near _there, _she won't allow it," _The Cyclops assured him one night, tracing the deep, pale scar that ran right over his one eye. How was he still able to see?

He was also told that the ring Master had "A Thing", for humanoids.

This freaked him out; especially when she came up to him one evening with the Cyclops in another part of the tent.

"_You have such pretty eyes," _She whispered to him, only inches away from his ears.

He was silent.

"_Don't you feel _lonely?" She asked lovingly, reaching her hand in between the bars.

The bars were meant to keep evil out- _Keep her away!_

Her black, cold, endless eyes were everywhere in only two. Her dark hair was pin-straight around her tan face- she too was humanoid.

Her long legs were covered by an ancient, Asian Styled dress specially tailored for her from Raggedy Princess, using the most hard to come by fabric- _silk._

"_Do you want to come out?"_

No, not if it meant she would be able to touch him.

He backed away to the opposite corner of the cage, his eyes still locked on hers.

He really was starting to like those bars.

_I don't need them_

_Because I've been treated so wrong_

Both the Human, and the Vampire have had a unique life and a Life-After-Death-Life.

If you have otherwise, you can shut your trap- their lives were awesome compared to yours.

He was the LAST HUMAN! You have to admit that's pretty cool. And she was _the _Vampire _Queen, _she rocked; say it or she'll kill you.

No matter their titles, they've both held a pen that could write their stories, yet in the end decided that it should be kept secret, personal. It sucked being them.

Unless you've been whipped, or bitten, locked away, or feared, you're welcome in their world. Like an old friend they've lost, they'll cherish your time with them, and then they'll send you off for a better future, them still in the past.

_And I've been cheated so long_

"So, you don't talk that much," she states, unwrapping the bandages from his arms.

"No," Is all he says, looking away from her slow work.

Discarding the scraps to the side, the reaches over to the dampened rag, cleaning the now healing wounds. The bloody cuts he gave himself with his own teeth, nails, and other sharp objects in his room at the time had scabbed over, and were now healing into fragile, young, new rosy skin. Though they would eventually turn into pale flesh that will stand out against the rest- new scars. These he'll be able to see.

"It's getting pretty old, y'know, your silence deal? You only talk around me, and Jake. What're you afraid you'll annoy the brains out of somebody?" She jokes, prodding the fresh membrane. It would sure taste good to bite into it…

"Maybe," He lies, turning his head up to look at her.

Her eyes are bowed in her work, cleansing his injuries, wiping away his pain. Her murky hair moved without wind around her body, her cloak shed. Her pale skin glowed in the dim light of the abandoned home they've come across. She looked oddly more beautiful than yesterday.

"I mean, I get what you're trying to say most of the time, but you can talk in full sentences, too. It's easier for everyone to understand,"

"Good," He breathes, leaning back against the wall when she moves to clean the stained wrappings.

"Good as in 'Too bad for them', or Good you'll talk more?"

He doesn't answer, indicating what he meant.

"Fine you jerk." She stands angrily, and floats out the huge gap in the side of the house to go dump the tainted water.

_As if I'm becoming untouchable_

He pulls his knees to his chest as close as he could from under the blankets. He got the feeling that Marceline didn't like him at the moment; maybe he _should _talk a little more.

_You'll get hurt. Someone will hurt you. It will only get worse. Don't talk, _he reminds himself.

He meets the crossroad.

Talk- Marceline stays

Stop- Nod a goodbye

But, what if he talks and Jermaine hits him? Knocks him over the head with a pan, punches him in the stomach forcing him to upchuck his guts?

But Jermaine wasn't there. Just him and Marceline.

Alone together.

(Heck yeah!)

_Well content loves the silence_

_It thrives in the dark_

She didn't understand his whole silence deal. Talking _rocks. _It's obviously the easiest way to get your thoughts across, no one word prophecies.

She hung on each remark he uttered, almost like she was expecting more, almost like she was expecting none.

Maybe she sort of… enjoyed the little he said? She understood him, totally, less to listen to. Still, she longed to hear all the voiceless thoughts that swam inside his head like koi in their pond, dancing with each other in their eternal domains.

"Keepin' to himself all the time, stretching out my cloak, makin' me have to clean these gross bloody things," She muttered, wringing the water from the bandages.

Her extremely long hair had been tied back in a ponytail for the task at hand, her sleeves pulled up to her elbows no matter how old her shirt was.

Okay, she didn't _have _to do this, he didn't ask or _make _her, she wanted to. GOT A PROBLEM WITH IT?

She was only doing this because she didn't want to hear him complain in a few days about the green his skin would be turning. So her she was, cleaning those god awful wrappings like a maid instead of a Queen.

After only a few minutes, she hears the rustling of slow feet over the frosted grass. She refuses to turn her head in his direction, "What do you want?"

He hesitated, he was _not _going to say "Mad", he was going to say a full sentence. He _will _say everything he wants to.

"You're mad," Small steps… don't _rush _him.

She scoffs, _"Y' think?"_

He comes up next to her kneeled form on the ground, where he sits next to her right, overlooking her work. "I'm sorry," He whispers, peering up onto her angel like face. Did that help? Is she happy again?

"What are you _sorry _for? For being a total jerk-face?"

Big, questions like that requires big answers- _What was he sorry for?_

"I'm sorry for how I turned out," He says aloud, ducking his head in between his shoulders so the blankets would hump over his ears. He awaited her response, whatever it would be. Only the running water squeezed evenly from the medical aids filled the silence if only for a moment.

"That's not exactly something you can control, Finn. Everything happens for a reason. You might've been in that circus to see what people could be capable of doing. Maybe you'll get something out of that,"

"What can I get out of something like _that?" _

Whoa.

Wait

A

_Minute! _He felt something.

Not fear. Not restriction. Nothing like that. His mind was sparked for only a moment with memories, but he didn't feel anything related to-

_Whip_

_Scream_

_Fire_

_Pain_

_Hunger_

_Cold_

_Loneliness_

He wanted to say more. He wanted her to_ know_. "It was horrible there. They left me for dead at least one time or another. They hardly fed me, they hurt me, and they didn't care. I was left _living _with myself, whatever I was. I wanted to _die, _I wanted to be _killed. _So did the Cyclops. We howled like animals in the night after Ring Master was asleep, because that's all we knew _how _to show ourselves. I don't talk because when I was there, they would-"

He stops short, his power gone.

He remembers it. He sees it. He _feels _it.

He's crying. He's hunched over in his blankets bawling on her shoulder.

He feels the pain all over again.

What just _happened?_

_With fine winding tendrils that strangle the heart_

She was Humanoid. She had Humanoid looks, Humanoid needs, Humanoids _wants. _And every single one of those Humans has similar _wants. _Being Humanoid only altered them, and made them stronger.

"_Don't go all the way over _there," She whined like a young child, chasing him from outside his cage, him on the inside, _"Don't play with me, boy," _She giggled, and her pin-strait hair blowing when she skipped.

She was terrifying.

He wanted to say _stay away, _but he knew what would happen. Maybe worse- she'd come _inside _his cage and teach him a lesson.

She wanted many things; such as jewels, dresses, land, and possessions. And she wanted someone to call her own.

There were other Humanoids out there, roaming like regulars. She didn't want any of them- they were all hideous. But this particular person was no ordinary person, you see; he was _human. _Purely human to the bone, All Natural Snapple, or whatever. _He. Was. Perfect._

And she wanted him. So, she broke him- he would kneel down to her, obey her every command, never leave her. _He. Was. Hers._

She made sure of it. But love her he doth not. She accidentally made him fear her…

Why were Humans so _fragile?_

_And they say that promises sweeten the blow_

_I don't need them_

_No I don't need them_

As he sobs quietly in his cocoon, she wraps the dry, cleaned bandages back around his still healing wounds. She is silent, he is not.

She does not look up to his shattered eyes; she does not want to feel his pain. Instead, she buried herself in her work, which was finished relatively shortly. She sits with her legs folded under her, her gaze cast down, hands folded; waiting for the alertness she felt to fade.

"You're not going back there," She says finally, the sun now rising in the East. "I promise, I won't let you go back there," She opens the blankets enough to crawl inside herself. She feels his thin arms wind themselves around her waist, holding her close like she could disappear at any given moment. "I'm not letting anyone take you away from me," She whispers in his ear, as he rests his head on her chest.

She promises.

_And I've been treated so wrong_

_I've been cheated so long_

_As if I'm becoming untouchable_

Her mom refused to touch her. Her dad refused to look at her. Hambo sometimes said he wanted to leave.

"_Stay away from me, Marceline," _her mother said one night, in her raspy voice, _"don't come near me,"_

Mommy was sick. Mommy was dying. She doesn't want Marceline close, she doesn't want to see her daughter up in the clouds along with her.

It was hard not to take it personally, always _get away, _or _don't touch me, _crud like that. Mommy needed her help. She didn't want Mommy to go.

Mother went one night, along with Hambo.

Today she wonders if her Mother's bones are still laying in her bed, clutching Hambo, her skull staring blankly are the ceiling. That's how she left her.

Daddy looked away whenever he saw her. He was a Demon, but he still felt pain. She looked a lot like Mother.

Then on Daddy's last day, he took her with him. _Down, down, down under the ground. _Not like the Humans- this hole was made of Fire.

"_What's the Nightosphere?" _she asked him, staring heavily into the flames, feeling iciness instead of heat.

"_Home," _Is what he said, dragging her along.

She fought him, she struggled. Her home was here, with Mommy. Daddy was _not _her home.

"Mommy, _is gone!" _He shouted into his daughter's face, using the shock she'd been lured into, to pick her up by the ankles, and hurl her into the hole.

Mother was dead. Father was evil.

Their daughter was a cross between both.

_I'm a slow dying flower, the Frost Killing Hour_

She was sedated in the bed, her chest unmoving, her heart stopped beating, her eyes closed. Marceline was dead, too.

He knew this, he planned this. Yes, she was half Demon, his cursed blood was in her veins. But it wasn't enough to keep her alive, she wasn't immortal.

"_You know what you're doing," _He said in a statement- he didn't ask questions.

"_Of course," _He hissed, circling the dead young girl slowly. He could smell the sweetness of human blood on her, and the bitterness of Demon Heart. _"She will be dead, but alive. She will be mine, she will be yours. We both want this, Satan," _He called him by his first name- how dare he.

_Sweet turning sour and untouchable_

His eyes narrowed, he knew all this. The Vampire King was without a Queen; Satan was without a daughter he was proud enough to admit she was his. They both wanted this.

"_Do it already," _He said lowly, watching the Vampire lean into her jugular.

There was a sickening snap, then the sound of _drinking, t_hen the smell of the iron in the blood. And lastly, the gasp of his Daughter pulled back from the skies of his enemy, and dropped in his domain.

He was proud to admit that he killed his part human daughter, and brought her back as the Queen of Vampires.

Father was Satan.

Daddy was mean…

_Oh I need the darkness_

_The sweetness_

_The sadness_

_The weakness_

Life came with ups and downs; you're here to jump over the hedges.

Do you really _need _anything to just dodge Life's curve balls?

_Oh, I need this_

Apparently you do…

_I need a lullaby_

_A kiss goodnight_

She was a secret musician. She kept her singing voice under wraps, the _Guitar _to her _Axe _silent. She didn't want anybody listening to her sad songs.

This was different. He was different.

So, she sang softly to him. Very softly, very heartedly, right in his ear.

He's never heard anything so beautiful, never felt so complete, he was happy.

"_And when you open your eyes, you see right through my disguise," _she sings, leaning her head down to his cheek, planting a sweet, little kiss on his soft flesh _"So close your eyes, to keep you alive,"_

His eyes snapped open.

Why?

He was scared again.

_Angel sweet love of my life_

_Oh, I need this_

_I'm a slow dying flower, Frost Killing Hour_

_The Sweet Turning sour, and untouchable_

_Do you remember the way that you touched me before?_

He tightly held her hands to the sides of her head; his knee jabbed into her stomach to keep her down on the bed. He loved watching the way that she squirmed, the way she wriggled to be free. Yelping in pain as he pushed his knee into her harder, a smirk crossed his face from under his dark bangs.

He loved these moments.

_All the trembling sweetness I loved and adored _

In a flash, his mouth was on hers, cutting off her breathing. Oh please, it's not like she could _die._

She hated him. She hated the Vampire King. She hated her husband.

He wanted her from the beginning; she was part of the deal he made with Satan. Actually, she _was _the deal.

Yippy, the devil sold _his _kid. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Eh, oh well.

One mid-afternoon, when the Kingdom was soundlessly asleep, she sat up their shared bed, her eyes wide. She'd been planning for months, she'd done research secretly, and gotten what she needed.

She slowly, carefully floated out of bed, and went to the closet. Inside she'd hung behind her future signature cloak, a lei of garlic. She stared at it, reminding herself that these little cloves were what would set her free.

She used her vampire powers to lift the lei from a distance. Moving it across the room, she dropped it around her husband's shoulders. She heard the short hiss go through his skin, she saw his blood red eyes open, and lock on hers. But he was too far gone to shout out for help. She watched him die. She was happy to admit she killed her husband.

And she was happy to be Queen.

_Your face-saving promises whispered like prayers_

_I don't need them_

_(skipped the Chorus)_

_Well is it dark enough, can you see me?_

It wasn't pitch black anymore, it was a golden yellow that soon turned to peaceful blue.

He fell asleep with her in his arms, staring up at the sky. He made sure to keep her in the shadow of the house, always facing away from the light. He knew how it hurt her.

_Do you want me? Can you reach me?_

_Or I'm leavin'_

He couldn't bear the thought of her leaving. He couldn't fathom how deep in despair he would be thrown into if she left him. He needed her here, here in his arms. He wanted her luke-warmth to touch when he was sad; needed to be held when he was frightened of anything. He needed to know she was just a breath away from his side so she could protect him, so he could protect her.

He would not, _would not _live without her there.

_You better shut your mouth, or hold your breath_

He's experienced different kinds of torture than just being whipped. The whip was probably the worst, though.

He's been choked.

Nearly drowned.

Starved.

Dehidrated.

Kept in isolation for up to a week at a time.

The masked men had broken his bones, but were repaired by Doctor Princess because ring Master wanted him to look nice. She had plans for him in the future he escaped.

And then he's been whipped. All because he spoke.

_You kiss me now, you catch your death_

_Oh I mean this_

Why did they hate him?

He bows his head into the direct sunlight, soaking up the heat it created. It was wrong to hate.

Maybe Humans were meant to be hated?

His instincts told him no.

So, he lays on his side, his eyes finally closed as he looked up at the blue sky, full of peace.

He was done crying. He was going to be strong now.

He promises.

_Oh_

_I mean this._

**Yay! It's finished!**

**When I was in school today, I made a promise to myself that I would finish the Chapter for Tree Stumps, but instead I somehow managed to finish the chapter for Be My Escape…**

**Eh, oh well.**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter, and please review! I accept Flamers, negative comments, and positive comments. Any suggestions for what I should do? I'm kinda lost here…**

**Anyway, got a question for you to answer. If you were a real person in this story, would you be either**

**-The Blind Man**

**-The Deaf Man**

**-The Regular Man**

**Answer truthfully!**

**Song Themes for any Suggestions:**

**Happy**

**Togetherness**

**Pasts**

**Beauty**

**Pain**

**And evilness. **

**-The MasterHama**


	6. Chapter 6

**Song: Illuminated by Hurts**

**Suggested by Spottedfang **

_Time waits for no one so do you want to waste some time_

_O-oh, tonight?_

Marceline the Vampire Queen has been around for 1003 years, 6 months, and 19 days. She knows because she's marked _every. Single. Day; _since she's been a queen. Yes, it was a waste of time, but she's got a lot of it. She's done everything, seen everything, been everywhere- including your Hell and Heaven. And she's not going to suddenly stop with _him._

Okay, he was a distraction. A _major _interference. Every night he would be awake _before _her. How was that even _possible? _It was honestly a very uncomforting thing to know that your undead life was being guarded by an insane human. He liked to stare at her while she slept… That was _not _right, NOT, AT, ALL!

She woke with a start; her eyes snapped open too fast before she was even able to see. Her breathing was quick, though she'd been unmoving for hours now. She brushes beads of sweat from her face, which was strange because _vampires DON'T sweat. _She stays still until her eyes adjust to the pitch blackness of night sitting up and for some reason under a blanket.

She rapidly looks around. The boy. _Where was the boy? _She feels around on the floor, he should be awake right next to her at this hour. Only her.

"Finn!" She shouted, standing out of instinct instead of floating. _Where, where, where? _Was he gone, did he leave her? Did something take him while they slept, while they were defenseless? Where was Finn?

Her heart… it was beating. No, that wasn't right. She holds a hand to her chest, sure enough there was a wild thumping inside her rib cage. _This wasn't right!_

"Finn!" She calls again, running out of the little hut.

_Cold, cold, cold. _Why was she freezing?

She gasps, clutching bare skin where she could find it. There were fingers pressing onto her, taking away her limbs with pain and suffering. "Finn!" She cries, running away from her place.

The unforgiving wind moans as it slashed its blade through her skin, making her want to sob with pain, and worry.

_Where_

_Was_

_Finn?_

Frantically searching, everywhere, nowhere, this was wrong. _So _wrong. Her heart was ripping in half, tears were spilling over her cheeks and splashing onto her shirt.

Finn, Finn, Finn.

She runs on, feeling barley alive. No matter how far she went, no matter how loud she called, he was nowhere. She was desperate to find him, she _had _to find him. There's a choking feeling at the back of her throat, she was unable to breathe.

But he was there. Right there in front of her; motionless in the frosting grass.

She breathes a sigh as she drops to the ground next to his form, trying to shake him awake. Only it wasn't working…

"Finn," She says urgently, trying to waken him, "Dude, get up! C'mon!" Get up, get up, GET UP.

_No, no, no. This wasn't right! _It wasn't… No!

His uncovered skin was icy to her touch, he was always warm… Was it the cold, was he-

"Finn," She whispers, moving away. _No. _He cannot be dea-

She screams.

_Don't be afraid of tomorrow_

_Just take my hand I'll make it feel so much better tonight_

He was laying there for just a bit; he usually woke now, just in time to see the Sun Set.

It was always a peaceful time of his day (or should he say night?), just watching nature do its thing. That _was _until Marceline started screaming in her sleep.

He immediately stands, and uses his first blanket to shield her from the sunlight that wasn't there. Why was she screaming?

He drops to the floor, trying to get her to wake, but she does that part for him without him knowing.

She's breathing quickly, yet she doesn't have to, there was no reason for her heart to beat. Her eyes snap open, and then shut at the light reflecting off the shattered glass of a window.

"Marceline," He says, nudging her shoulder. Was she okay? Why was she awake so early?

She sits up under the blanket he put over her, holding her head in her hands, shaking like he does when he sees too clearly into his own memories. "Finn," she begs, gripping the strands at her scalp like she was feeling the true fear and anger of a mortal.

"I'm here," He crawls up next to her, resting his chin on her shoulder, trying to see through her mop of hair.

In a second her arms are around his neck, rocking the both of them back and forth, _"Finn, Finn, Finn," _She repeats. It was so nice to have him alive, and in her arms. "Don't you dare ever leave me again, _get it?"_

"Got it," He answers quickly, letting her hug him because he knew this was for her, not for him this time. So he winds his own arms out of his cocoon, and wraps them around her waist. She was there for him, he was here for her. And he will _never, ever _leave her.

Again?

_Suddenly my eyes are opened everything comes into focus_

This

Was

_Wrong._

This

Was

_Horrible._

He

Wanted

OUT.

It was clear to him now that those bars all around him were not protecting him from anything, they were keeping him, owning him, making him theirs.

No way was that happening.

"_Hey! Witch! You're flippin' ugly face is getting' into my dreams! I bet your BUTT looks better than you!" _He shouted one day through the bars to Ring Master after her "Checking In" on him.

He

Wanted

Freedom.

She froze in mid-step, her mouth hanging open by an inch. She spun around so fast; her hair barely had time to swing around with her. _"WHAT, DID YOU CALL _ME?"

"_A witch with a good lookin' butt!" _He laughed, changing his insult right around into a compliment. Smooth move…

Her dark face, flushes with either anger, or embarrassment. "Excuse me?"

Oh wow, wasn't _this_ a change? Did he just say-

"_Your butt may look good, _'butt', _you're still a WITCH!"_

Oh NO he did NOT!

She

Was

Going

To

_Kill_

Him.

She yanks the key out of the compartment in her high-heel; stomping over to the cage, she unlocks the door.

He was ready for this, because he knew _she _would be the one to come in with no one else near. And guess what? It's really hard to fight a kid his age in a tight dress and heels.

He makes a run for it the second she steps into the cage. Still caught up in his plan- once he's out, he slams the door right on here, locking Ring Master inside.

"_And _this, _you sick freak, is what it's like to be Human,"_

And he's gone.

He's out of the tent, he's away from those people, and he's free. But… now what? It wasn't like there was someone to slide a pile of hidden food onto his floor with a pole, no one to warn him when Ring Master was near, no one to talk to, and no one to howl with.

Cyclops was still there, with only the tattoos of his family and the constant cries of children.

He sat to think when he came to a forest, underneath the branches of a beach tree. It was hard to believe that _this _was his life before he realized how much in common life had with death.

He doesn't remember how he got back in that cell. There are scars on his back, there's a wound to his pride. He respects those bars, he keeps quiet.

He

Is

Caged… _Again._

_Oh, we are all illuminated_

_Lights are shining on our faces_

_Blinding_

"Are you okay?" He asked, only pushing her away enough to force her to look him in the eye.

He was getting better at this talking thing! Be proud!

Her ruby red eyes were held down with angst, peering out through her hair, "I don't know," She groans, ducking her head into his chest.

Okay, this was weird and new for him. He's never really been needed before; he didn't know how to deal with this kind of situation. He was only 16, with hormones in his head and fear breaking out every so often; it was really hard to find the time to learn how to care for a distressed vampire…

"Uh…" He thinks back to what people have said to him when he was like this, "It'll be okay?"

He doesn't know what else to do, so he just lays her down on top of a blanket so the cold floor wouldn't bother her, and another so she would be warm. But there was one crucial fact missing- _she was always cold._

He sat next to her, watching the Sun go down, munching quietly on a stack of these things she called "Crackers," with the last few blankets wrapped around him.

He was in no position to let his guard down, no matter how much he wanted to crawl under the blanket with her and get some more hours of sleep in.

_Swing me the sorrows_

_And try delusion for a while_

He was crazy. She was depressing. They were awesome together, like a total "Break Stuff and Don't Care" duo team that robbed banks, broke and entered, and don't forget vandalism!

Well, they _would _if there were banks still to be robbed, places to be broken and entered, or dumb unimportant signs to vandalize.

If they trade their places there would probably be a global disaster. Insane Vampire un-caged and on a rampage, and a depressing human on suicide watch…

Yeah… Ooo _really _needs a Hero.

_It's such a beautiful night_

_You've got to lose inhibition _

No thanks…

_Romance your ego for a while_

_C'mon give it a try_

What the ZIP?

'Kay, look here you FREAK, are you seriously asking this kid to ROMANCE it up? And WHAT ego?

"Um, what does _romance _mean?" He asks Marceline, clearly remembering what the Cyclops had told him about girls. He was revisiting those memories because he thought he could figure out what to do with her… maybe.

Being trapped in a cage at the age of nine has left this kid ignorant on a _whole _other level…

She coughs a laugh, _"Romance? _It means kissing, and hugging, and being together… Togetherness. Romance is a more forced version of Love,"

"What's Love?" He leans against the wall, sliding down low enough to be at her eye level because she propped her head up on her elbow.

She's silent for a moment, looking into his eyes like he was lying, "Love is nature's horrible way to get you to live, but it sort of backfired and made people _die, _too,"

He raised an eyebrow, "What? Why?"'

She somehow managed a shrug, "I guess because in a group, you're stronger than on your own. So Mother Nature came up with a sick way to get people to stick together. Love is the feeling of total attachment to something, somewhere, or _someone. _Like Jermaine and Jake. They're under the same roof because they love each other. They would jump in to fire to save the other, which would result in death…" she trails off, reminiscing in some odd time, "But sometimes you _fall, _in love,"

"What's that?" He fully lies down next to her, his own head held up by his arm just like hers.

She sighs contently, "It's when you feel a bond with someone that you won't dare break, because you love them so much. You never want to be away from them, and you end up living with them until one of you die,"

He rests with her looking down on him and he cuddles with his blankets, raising them around his neck, "Like me and you?"

She blinks a few times, her cheeks glowing red under the pale blue her skin was, "One thing," She lets her head fall on a bundle of blanket to it wouldn't hurt when it was taken by gravity, "I'm already dead,"

_(chorus)_

_2X We are all, we are all blinded!_

He was trying not to think of how beautiful she looked when she was flying that night, with the Moon's half glow escaping through the thick clouds. He was trying not to stare at her thin body when the wind pulled her shirt to her, or daze when he heard her laughter chime like bells in the night. She was like a fairy, no; she was a Goddess in his eyes.

He was trying not to wonder if he was falling in love with her.

But trying doesn't get you anywhere; you're going to have to do something.

Is there anything you can do about _love? _Not unless there's some hate in the mix, too.

He could hardly swallow the smile that touched his lips when she started doing flips in the air. Why was she so graceful, so beautiful, so _amazing?_

"You just gonna gap at me , or are you going to join me?" she calls down to him, twirling like a mermaid in water.

"I can't fly!" He laughs, following her path from the ground.

She floats back down, gently tugging on his barricade of quilts, "So these aren't wings?"

"No!" He pulls the top over his head, "Mine!"

He couldn't see her eyes from behind he fallen locks, but just by the smirk forming on her lips he could tell it was time to run.

_Suddenly my eyes are opened everything comes into focus_

_Oh_

"You let them go to the beach?" Jermaine asks blandly, his eyes only half open.

Jake shrugged, cocking his head to the side, "I mean; I didn't see why _not. _The ocean is pretty radical, in a way," He lowered his gaze to the mug of Hot Chocolate in his brother's hand. "It was cold out there, too. I left them with all the blankets, 'cause Finn was freezing his face off,"

He scoffs, "Yeah, well so am I," Jermaine walks down the hall, gesturing for Jake to follow him. "Look," He nods his head into his room.

Inside, his bed was a barren wasteland with no blanket; only a thin sheet was folded neatly at the foot along with his pillow. "Okay, I took your blanket, sorry bro,"

Jermaine rolls his abnormal eyes, tiredly, "I'm _cold, _Jake. And you gave all our blankets away to a _vampire, _and a _human,"_

"Um, is there something wrong?"

Jermaine, glances up at him from his hunched shoulders, "No, everything's ranicorns, Jake. Happy sunshine and flowers,"

Jake caught the sarcasm like a fly in milk, yet was too afraid to toss another right back at him. "I like to think things are that way, too," he says, turning to go to the kitchen and make himself a cup of Hot Chocolate.

Jermaine had his gaze down on the tiled floor, though not really taking in the image. Jake liked to think that the world was a nicer place…

Jermaine took it, grasped it, and ate it for what it was.

_We are all illuminated_

_Lights are shining on our faces _

It was extremely hard to hold onto a cocooned boy while flying at night over eight stories high in the air. This was one of the reasons he was on her back. The second reason was because she didn't trust herself to hold onto him with her hands- Lincoln forbid he fall through her grasp and

_Fall._

So perched on her back like a bird was a human wrapped in quilts traveling at such a slow speed that he wasn't surprised they hadn't gone far once the sun had started to rise over the horizon.

Diving to safety lower to the ground, they searched wildly for a shelter to keep Marceline safe- there was nowhere to hide.

"Land!" He commanded, too tired to fly.

He shoved her to the ground with so much force she tried to crawl away for protection like he would hurt her.

He stripped the largest bedspread he was holding, and draped it over her entire body so she looked like a lump on the ground. "Good?" He asked harshly, very ready to just lie down and turn himself off.

He doesn't wait for an answer. He collapses next to her, encased in his own quilt.

His eyes are closed to the brilliant light of the sunrise. And to be honest, the sunrise is more amazing than its set.

_Blinding_

**Glob, I'm tired…**

**I wanna go to sleep…**

**But before I do- GUESS what?**

**Somebody drew a fanart for this story! WOO!**

**Their name is TheStinkyFoot, and they drew a comic strip as a scene from the last chapter. There's the link in my description under my website link… so all of you go look at it before you crash like me.**

**Check out their other drawings too if you wanna. **

**Really hoped you guys liked this chapter, though it's on the shorter side.**

**Song Topics:**

**Love**

**Friendship**

**Memories**

**Pain**

**Also, please try to avoid songs that have choruses that repeat more than 2 times throughout the song. I listen to all of them and put a little star next to the good ones in my inbox. **

**So, please give me songs because I'm TIRED, and review! I like reviews A LOT!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Song: Clocks by Coldplay**

**Suggested by: Spottedfang **

_Lights go out and I can't be saved_

This was how it started each night. Each desperate, unforgiving night this was how it was.

"_Ladies and gentlemen! I am honored to welcome you to the Silver Lining Circus!" _Ring Master would say into the microphone, salvages from wreckage. _"Be ready to see the most dangerous acts you can imagine, death gripping moments that will stay with you for a life time, and lay eyes upon the most hideous of creatures in all the Land of Ooo!" _This was how it always started. _"Though I warn you, our beasts can be dangerous, so they are kept in cages for your own protection!"_

The lights were off the whole time, only two spotlights were being moved around though the inky blackness of the tent. He knew behind his curtain there were hundreds of people waiting to see the animals, the acrobats, and the Cyclops. He was "Too Young"; Ring Master said he wasn't ready to be brought onto the stage for the people to see. That or she just wanted him to herself.

He was watch intently by a Faceless Man from outside his bars, behind a cloth, hidden from view. The Faceless Man was armed with a pole that had a sharp blade on the end, though he was not given permission to do anymore than prod or cut him. No stabbing, and no cuts to his handsome face.

On these nights, he could not howl to the moon. Though, it doth not matter- the moon is not going to rise each and every night only for a little boy to call to it until he falls from exhaustion. If the moon could speak, or feel emotion, it would snap at the human for keeping it from stepping back for the Sun.

"_Get ready, for the greatest thing to ever cross your eyes!"_

_Tides that I tried to swim against_

She's always been one to go her way, only her way; no one else's… ever, really.

Even if it was for her greater good, she was going it solo, her plan, and all the time. So when her dad forced her into the Nightosphere was a very clear reminder that humans are weak, and you can't beat Satan.

Well, did he _really _have to kill her _that _way? When she was thrown in, the way she was spinning contributed little to the whole. The fire _ate _her away, ripped her flesh from her bones, and sucked the life away from her frail body. This way to die was no fight you could possibly win; and Daddy knew it all along.

_Have brought me down upon my knees_

_Oh, I beg, I beg and plead_

_(singin')_

He was to keep silent, always told that by everyone, including himself. Because honestly, begging was to get him nowhere, along with talking, and whining, and speaking with his eyes. Why was he not to do these? He doesn't know because he's never asked; and he was not in the position to at the moment.

He was lying on the floor of a cell, miles from any sort of compassion, love, or life worth living. Though he had no real idea of what any of those things were, he yearned for the inevitable; because that's what the hopeless do- they hope when they lost their hope, and then they say they're hopeless, when they're _not. _They hope, but their doubt is too strong for them to have faith in it. If only people were like Katara of the Water Tribe.

So, forlorn hope is what the human had going; and so far, it was working out. Maybe? Eh, no one really knows or cares; this kid's deal was freaky on unmarked levels.

Begging was going to get him no where, pleading might, though. Ring Master liked it when she saw the pleading in his eyes, loved it when she saw how deeply shattered he was.

Now _she_ was the daughter Satan was looking for! Why in the Nightosphere was he stuck with that Half-Human _Marceline, _when he could have a Humanoid as one instead? He hears they're tougher, more _loyal._

Now Marceline, or Ring Master? Was _Ring Master_ even he real name?

_Come out of things unsaid_

_Shoot an apple off my head_

She has not eaten for nights, or perhaps it's been a week? She's lost count after four horribly stressing evenings full of tears and screaming and long one-sided conversations about the simplest things he's never learned about.

This particular night, she found it extremely challenging to keep her rabid side from ripping the boy's face off with her fangs, and breathe his blood mist while drinking the fluids from his skinny frame. Ah, a meal fit for royalty…

"Finn," She said from outside his door, "you awake?" She taps he knuckles gently on the wood, her head turned slightly, trying to hear inside.

There's a grumble from the other side, saying all he needed for her to understand. "I'm… I," She rests her forehead against the door, "I'll be back, alright?" she sighs, combing her fingers through her hair at the roots.

Another moan of annoyance of the late afternoon from his room floats out from under his door.

"So… I'll see you… later, maybe. I- I dunno, but I'll be back, I promise," she says, loud enough for only him to perceive. "I've been, _starving _myself for… a while. I needa go eat something, and there's nothing here for me," She pauses, squeezing her eyes shut, "I'll be back…" She chokes out, sucking in a breath to keep her from letting out an unintentional cry. She turned her head away, refusing to look at that door any longer.

Before she can promise anything else, she yanks the hood of her cloak over her head, and glides out of the home. _She'll be back, she'll be back, she'll come back for him._

She loves him too much to just leave him behind like this. She's not leaving him behind, she's coming back, okay? She promised.

_(And a)_

_Trouble that can't be named_

_Tigers waiting to be tamed_

"Marceline,"

The house is asleep, along with all living in it at this hour. The groaning of the floor board beneath his feet was like the lost souls of the Nightosphere, when you first open the gates- at least it's what Marceline told him it was like.

He shies away when his bare feet touch a cold spot that leaks icy air into his room. Man, he hated that spot. Tiny, ghostly hands grappled at his toes, pulling him under the floor-boards to their little homes.

She had woken him an hour or so before at the last full grips of day light clawing its bony fingers over the mountains' ridge, even earlier than he usually wakes. He at that time was too tired to fully process what she was saying, and soon forgot afterwards as he was dragged back into sleep by his ankles without him struggling. He wasn't to be released from its grasp anyway, even if he did the invisible hands would still be wrapped around him… He'd never get away.

Well, _sleep _was one thing.

So like every evening, he climbed out of his bed, and started on his search for Marceline. He slowly toddled out of his room in his stiff legs, scratching the sand out of the corners of his eyes. _"Marceline,"_ He stretches out into a one-word note. "Where are you?" He croaks out, licking over his burning lips.

He walks out of the hall's shadow, "Where?" His voice of whole gets caught in his throat at the sight of the dog, all sense of protection gone.

Jermaine doesn't look up from his copy of The Ooo Review, "The Vampire? She left." His doggy legs are stretched out on the white (though tainted brown over time), crossed at the ends.

Liar. No she didn't. She wouldn't leave him!

"No," He growls, fury outweighing the fear in his eyes. His hands are in fists inside the long sleeves of Jake's sunflower yellow sweater. She could _not _leave him here. Not here, not now, not without a good-bye.

"Don't go all nutty on me, she said she'd be back… maybe. I don't really know. She just said she was going _hunting," _He emphasizes the word, nodding his head with the pronunciation as if he were reading it off the paper in his hands. His eyebrows are knitted, "Well, you know what vampires eat."

His eyes snap up, still not met by Jermaine's, "She's not like that!" His seethes. She doesn't drink blood, he knows that, she told him, she _showed _him. She wouldn't kill, she's not evil like Jermaine.

Jermaine pauses, glancing away from the article on parenting, "How would _you _know? Why are you up, anyway?" He finally looks him up and down, "Is that _Jake's _jacket?"

Finn's face goes sanguine, _Marceline _left _him here with this son of a bitch? _"I, am," He whispers, "going to _hurt you."_

Being a dog of course, he could still hear what Finn said ever so quietly. But he ignored it, why?

That kid was _freaky. _He needed to know some boundaries, he needed to be tamed. "Go to your room!" He commanded, "don't you dare talk to your… Temporary Guardian like that young man!" He was _not _his father.

What? Does being his Temporary Guardian give any sort of ownership over a messed up kid?

"Food," He murmured, no longer wanting to fight, he headed into the kitchen to find something-anything.

And true to the fact, there was no red. Jermaine had specifically eaten it all days ago.

_(Singin')_

_You are, you are_

_Confusion never stops_

_Closing walls, and ticking clocks_

Time. Time and the Vampire King. She hated both those things- but guess what? They're both gone with the wind now that he's… dead again, and she's got another few thousand years before Time becomes a problem… again.

Really, the clock on the wall didn't mean much but "Go to sleep" or "Wake up". Unlike mere mortals, the clock was nothing more. To them- their life was slipping away by the _second! _On birthdays they celebrated; was it for surviving the year, or being brave enough to face another full of danger and possibilities? Death was a cool guy and all, but why was his companion Time?

Her mom liked to tell her that Death was a gift, and Life was only how you earned it. Though, if you call on Death on your own too soon, you'll never fully receive your gift. Suicide isn't a great option…

_(Gonna)_

_Come back, and take you home_

Hah, heck yeah she is! Ring Master is going to capture you, put you in a cage, and torture you until you love her! Yes, she is gonna take you to the circus tonight, and make you into an animal.

She is going to break you.

"_I, am going to hurt you," _She whispers to him through the bars, on a day he was defying a little more than usual. That particular warning stuck to him, like a fly and fly paper- it was meant to walk along with him for the rest of his planned life, that's why she said it to him.

But you know what? The next best thing next to free candy, is free candy from strangers. Maybe he should've been more aware that Kidnapping is real.

And he never got his candy. Jerk…

_I could not stop, that you now know (singin')_

_Come out upon my seas_

_Cursed missed opportunities_

"Why?" He shouted into the mirror, glaring pointed daggers into his own reflection. He hated everything relentlessly at this moment, including Marceline, and himself.

How could she just… _leave _him? Why was she gone? Did he do something wrong? Did she hate him? Had she even loved him?

He let himself dream, he lost control and he let her get into his head. This was the consequence! HE DID THIS TO HIMSELF!

It's all his fault that he now felt this way…

There was so much more to learn, to say, to ask. Yet now all these possibilities were sent out to sea, along with his former hopes and dreams.

Tears. They came down from each eye like that was the true meaning of their presence how many times he sobbed in a week. He stared into his own for one moment, then another, and another…

There's glass on the floor along with a few drops of blood. There is pain in his hand, but it doesn't hurt as much as what is ripping away him from the inside. His hands are still in fists, small shards peaking out of his flesh. A scar for every memory.

_Marceline, Marceline, Marceline. _She was everything.

He still glares into the shattered mirror, he was no longer there. Neither was she.

_Marceline. _She's coming back…

He couldn't forget her, he couldn't remember why she meant so much.

_Love, love, love. Love for Marceline._

He bows his head, trying to keep a scream from escaping the confinements of his mouth.

He falls to the floor, ignoring the tiny pricks of pain on his bare knees. _Hopelessly loving._

She

Lied _How_

To _Could_

Him _She?_

A choked and strangled sob yanks the breath out of him; he loved her too much to let her go.

_(Am I)_

_A part of the cure, or am I part of the disease?_

Done right or wrong? A simple question she'd been trying to answer.

She set him free- right, correct? She left him- wrong, all the way.

_But she HAD to! _She wasn't planning on starving, and killing the kid without meaning to sucked if it were to happen (no pun intended).

Though now she questions herself. What if she _hadn't _heard the rumors? What is she never found Finn? Would he be around, still? Would he have given his heart to another; supposing she had his already?

Was she helping, or hurting him as she floated around the Grasslands, in the direction of the Strawberry Fields.

Why hadn't she taken him along? Maybe he'd like fresh strawberries.

The temptation was too strong for her to handle. Just laying next to him under the same blanket when his quick thinking saved her undead life made her want to snap his neck and suck him dry. She wasn't sure if she could make it all the way so weak carrying him- a delicious warm meal begging to be eaten.

She questioned her decision, yet knew it was for the better. She was coming back.

_6X You are_

_And nothing else compares_

_Oh no nothing else compare_

_And nothing else compares_

Her skin was tan, the other was blue.

Her eyes were brown, the others were sanguine.

Her voice was cool and frightening, the others was soft, loving, and feared.

Her challenge was to be loved, the others was to keep it.

Comparing… evil to evil.

Evil to love.

Desperation to intimidation.

Humans, to vampires.

Ring Master, to Marceline the Vampire Queen.

_3X Home, home, where I wanted to go_

Jermaine was wide eyed when he saw her. No words were needed, she knew precisely what he was trying to say.

Her large bag of strawberries fell to the floor, squashing a few to pulp on the bottom. It wasn't important.

She was gone from the threshold, now forcing his locked door open to his room.

The inky darkness was lit only by the iridescent glow of the moon through the open window. The curtains billowed in the evening wind of the unsealed pane, waving its curvy hands good bye to her like a message he left behind.

"Finn," She murmurs, her feet touching earth, eyes too wide to see, but no one but she was in the room to respond to the name

She wanted to sink to her knees and weep. She was too late.

_Home, home, where I wanted to go_

**BAM!**

**Strangers have the best candy… but apparently they don't give it to you.**

**Incase you were stumped, **_**sanguine **_**is the color of blood.**

**Hope you guys liked this chapter. I was expecting it to be longer, 'cause the song is 5 minutes…**

**But anyway- song topics!**

**-Betrayal**

**-Love**

**-Returning**

**Review please! They make my heart burst with happiness! You don't need an account to review!**

**~The MasterHama**


	8. Chapter 8

**Song: I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cuite**

**Suggested by thestinkyfoot (yes, the same person who drew the awesome fanart)**

_Love of mine, someday you will die_

The night howled through the open window, like the sound of a forest swaying with the wind of a hurricane. She stood so still you could have mistaken her as a statue, especially from her pale skin in the moonlight. Her hair reached all the way down to her knees, unmoving. Her eyes were squeezed shut so tightly that she saw colors bursting behind the lids. Her hands were clenched in fists, nails wedging themselves deep in her flesh.

"Smooth move, lady," The dog said from the door way, "Totally on you."

She stays still, not trusting herself to move. Instead she listens to that mutt.

"Honestly, you mean _everything_ to that kid, and BAM, you just completely abandoned him here with _me _of all people! You know he hates me," Jermaine walked into the room like he had diamonds at the meeting of his thighs, "I don't know _why _he does, but that was a threat before when he saw me. Hate all the way to the core of that monster. Messed up kid…" He crosses his arms, eyeing Marceline from the other side of the room. "I blame you."

Involuntarily, her head falls to face the ground in defeat. "I accept the blame," She says, her voice breaking in the middle of her sentence. _What a queen._

He scoffs, "Oh Night-O-Sphere you do! Glob's got a whole lot to settle with you, Vampire Queen," He turns away from her like she was not worth the sight, the space, or the effort, "You don't belong here."

Her breath catches in her throat at those words, _you don't belong here. _But she's been thinking that for decades, why would it hit her so hard now? Because she was thinking them as she stood on line the day she met that kid…

She growls like a rabid animal, the noise growing louder and gruffer than any bear or lion. Anger was never something Vampires were able to cope with.

"How _dare, _you say that to me," It was unexplainable the tone she used. It was as if she had swallowed shards of broken glass, smoked for her whole life, and became a beast within. This was the tone she used when speaking to the disloyal in her Kingdom. "You will _pay," _She straitens her back so perfectly, it was as if she's been balancing books on her head for years without dropping them. "I can unzip your skin, and _wear _you like a fur coat," She turns her head to the frozen dog stiffly, "I can rip your limbs from your body, and force you to _walk_," Marceline becomes one she isn't "I can send you to the Night-O-Sphere, instead of Heaven."

Jermaine was as small as his pride, curled in a ball, shaking on the ground. This reminded her all too much of Finn. "Heaven?" He asks shyly, sobbing quietly like a child.

"Glob-World, Jermaine. I will personally end your chances of going there, _just _for that." The ripped, gray sleeves of her shirt billow with the icy wind coming through the open window, "I can promise you that."

She slowly steps closer to him, kneeling down to come face level, "But because you're loved…" She carefully rests her hand on his elbow, stroking the soft fur like the hair on Finn's head. She grasps the joint, and snaps it back to the opposite direction it was meant to bend.

He shrieks into the night, so loud Jake had to cover his ears when he was woken from deep sleep.

Marceline didn't care. Finn told her the "Faceless Men" did this to him with all of his joints when he gave them dirty looks.

She wanted to move on to the next, even reached out for it. Then, she saw his eyes.

_Finn._

She backed away from either disgust in him, or herself.

She is gone, out the window and into the night on a desperate search of which she refuses to come back empty handed.

She will not let him go, not yet, not while she can still be with him. Because soon, she won't be able to.

_But I'll be close behind, I'll follow you into the dark_

She betrayed him. She broke her promise. She _left _him there alone!

She didn't even say goodbye to him.

He had been missing The Deceiver for hours now, slowly becoming a whole night. Last he saw her was right before she crashed on the couch. The next day she was replaced by _Jermaine,_ and by far that was the painful thing you could do to him. Forget the Ring Master, Jermaine is ultimate terror.

He's scary because he doesn't hurt him, how the heck is he supposed to cope with that? It was easy with Ring Master because he had something to avoid and knew how. But Jermaine… Oh whatever he's jumping out that window and running away, he's done with that guy!

"Son of a Bitch," He hisses under his breath, repeating what he'd heard Jake say time and time again.

The stabbing pain in the side of his fist was starting to become too excruciating to handle, for three thick shards of glass were deeply embedded in his flesh, muscle, and down to the bone. His injured hand hung limply below his waist, bleeding badly and staining his hand-tailored pants made of wool courtesy of a woman named Raggedy Princess.

The night air is almost as painful as the puncture The Deceiver delivered directly to his stomach. All he had taken with him was a pillow case with a hole that was pulled over his head, and the blanket that was on his bed- he was still cold.

What an incredibly stupid boy he was! Setting out on a forlorn journey to find someone who was already coming _back _to him. No wonder Humans are endangered, it's just so easy to kill them.

Following her into the dark, was it out of rage, love, anguish, or fear he'd never see her again? Perhaps he was foolish enough to set out just for the adventure.

_No blinding lights, or tunnels to gates of white_

_Just our hands clasped to tight, waiting for the hint of a spark_

"_Come here you stupid boy!" _Was the voice ringing out against the silence, _"Come here or you'll be sorry!"_

Sorry? He was already sorry. "No!" He shouted back, shimmying up a bar of his cell. Oh Glob, what had he gotten himself into?

"No? _What do you mean _'No'?" The Ring Master seethed, shaking the pole from below, trying to force him down.

"_Stop it!" _He cried out, clinging tighter to the life-line that was meant to keep him safe.

She lets the post tremble, _"I said get down you delinquent!" _She screams, banging her fists on the side of the cart.

"_Never, Witch!" _He smirks idly, inching up higher, and higher… then his head touched the roof of the prison. Oh, what had he gotten himself into?

There's a shriek of aggravation, sounding much like a pterodactyl, "COME DOWN NOW!"

His heart is beating fast enough to be heard over her yelling echoing in his ears like the pulse of a drum. He could feel the throbbing beneath his wrists and jugular, his breaths coming too quickly too mean anything well for him. Eyes dilated, fingers clenched and slipping with sweat oozing from pores, _"Get away from me!" _His voice cracks in adolescence, age on count of thirteen years.

Patience, that's what was keeping that boy alive. Her patience for him was nearing an end; she soon would have to put the animal down if it did no tricks she commanded.

She's waited long years for him to come down from a pole to her awaiting him to be embraced by love, though he still was more near the top than the base either from fear, or hatred. Why were humans so foolish?

"_You're a dead one!" _She did not care if he was on "Death Row", he was to be hers or not; simply that. She hated how she needed a _human _to fulfill her wishes.

Why must she be _humanoid?_

She carefully backs away from his part of the tent, and into hers. The warmth of a fire glows on her olive toned skin as she walked into her temporary home.

With a sigh, she takes the damp rag form the pail of warm water, and dabs it across her bare arms. The colored chalk rises from her skin and onto the cloth revealing the obnoxious rosy colors of living candy.

What made Ring Master _humanoid, _instead of Human?

There weren't many things could separate you from your genetics, though the Master of Rings had enough to count on her fingers.

In the cavern of her chest, there was no steady thumping like an honest human. There was no small clock ticking away second inside her, no way to create a pulse. Ring Master literally didn't have a heart. And with no heart… you have no soul. Now do you still question how someone could do this to humans?

She wipes the chalk dust from her cheeks, the pink color shining brightly against her dark hair of poisoned sugar from when she was still a test tube among other failures.

"_Disgrace," _she mutters, glaring at her own reflection.

One of her servants sits on the other side of the room, his stubby legs crossed under a suit, _"I do not understand why you cover you skin with dust," _he says, feeling the grotesque scars on his face… face_less._

"_What's not there to understand?" _She snaps back, only she sounds not powerful, but afraid.

He makes a humming noise of observation for approval, _"You shouldn't be running a Circus when there are people awaiting your return."_

She drops the rag into the pail, and sinks into the lounge chair by the fire, _"Peppermint Butler, I'm a different person now," _She strains, combing her fingers through her dead locks.

His one good eye flicks towards her, _"Your Kingdom needs you, Princess Bubblegum."_

Her jaw clenches, "I told you! _Not yet…" _Her head rests in her hand; she was not willing to give up on the boy yet, waiting for just a hint of a spark.

_If Heaven and Hell decide, that they both are satisfied_

_Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs_

_If there's no one beside you when you soul embarks_

Thoughts always seemed to race through her mindat times of importance; basically _unimportant _thoughts went through her mind on times like these. Like _Oh, that's a funny looking cloud, _or _Hm, is that a tree in the shape of a happy face? _And most unimportantly_ Was that Finn? Oh... no… whoops…_ So that's all she was thinking for a nice handful of hours.

OF COURSE she was thinking about how if she didn't succeed she would never have someone to love, lose complete faith in her, and probably just commit suicide by starvation! If she wasn't, this wouldn't be a good angst story, now would it? So, yes, she was becoming as desperate as you can as a vampire to find "Her Man", or whatever you'd call him behind her back.

She flinches for a moment thinking a little shrub was him cowering under a tree, but passes after stomping on the adrenalin under the ground.

She had no idea how long she'd been flying through Ooo, for. Maybe three hours, four, five? More? Dang eternity, getting in the way of her perception of time and space.

Yet whoopdie-doo guess who? It's that way too cheery sun coming up over that horizon! Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do? That sun might as well have been a knife-happy psycho comin' to get 'cha.

"Crap," She mutters, tugging the hood of her signature cloak over the crown of her head before the first of many rays reached its shiny fingers onto her pale skin.

No, no way in history was _The _Vampire _Queen _going to die right here, right now. NO.

No one would be here to know the heart of pure terror in Ooo was dead, killed by the "No Sunlight" rule (number 2).

_Then I will follow you into the dark_

_In Catholic School, as vicious as Roman rule_

_I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black_

Silence. Peace. Hush over all, including the crickets chirping their last calls before falling honorable deaths in the frosted grasses. He could see the breath leaking out from his nose as if it were life slipping away from him; he dared not open his mouth. The moon shone lustrously through the holes in the tent flap, lighting the inside like day. Dark, ghostly shadows were cast behind him as only a reflection of himself; he was made of color, not a silhouette.

"_You're more than that," _The Cyclops once said to him, _"The Witch only thinks she has your number,"_

He wishes he believed him, wishes he could.

He sits in the fetal position, arms crossed on his chest and leaning in on his knees. He is shuddering with the temperature of twenty-seven degrees so vigorously he is slowly taken from his pose.

Hell.

_And I held my tongue, as she told me "Son,_

_Fear is the heart of Love,"_

_So I never went back_

Why did he leave? Why did he jump down, why did he leave them behind? How come he endured all of that, and only left _then?_

Has he even left? It felt like he was still tethered to that place; body, mind, and soul. But why? He left it behind

Like

It

Was

_Nothing._

Or was it harder than he let on? Did he hate, or love it there? Was it even worth the memory space, the scars on his back, the effort to live through it?

It wasn't like he had anything to abandon, no one there loved him anyway. They left a long time ago…

"_Doing?" _He snaps, forcing as much of himself through the bars as he could. Over time, that amount has grown significantly less. _"Can't!" _the urgency in his voice spoke the words he dared not say, he's been there a while, it's not the same as it used to be.

"_I have to, boy," _It sobs, shaking so violently he wondered how it managed to speak, _"I can't take it anymore," _Always, the Cyclops Man told him to hold in, keep his chin up, he always told him false promises of freedom. But what freedom did he speak of? He never really told him how to get it…

Panic is forcing him to speak up, it was making him come out of his shell and do something. But… what? _Talk _the guy out of it?

You're joking, right?

Finn had blood on his hands, alright. He could've talked Cyclops Guy out of suicide… if he wasn't so terrified of the consequences. It was his fault as much as Ring Master's that he was the only sight to see in the Silver-Lining Circus.

And then there were no sights to see a few hours later.

"_Don't!" _he begs, wiping the tears from his dirt covered face, hands jerking uncontrollably "_Please!" _Don't let him! He can't! Don't let his only real companion die… He drops to his knees when he can't stand on wobbling knees any longer. _"Don't," _He cries, sobbing so hard it's hard for him to breathe. His coughs, snivels, tears and words weren't enough to stop Cyclops from using the knife that was left accidentally by a Faceless Man. _**"NO!"**_He screams loud enough to stir the Master from her slumber. He spends the rest of the night alone, staring helplessly at the still corpse of his only friend, his only family.

His last bit of hope dies along with the Cyclops_, one day too early_.

In the morning, Ring Master doesn't notice the blood under its body, classifying him as asleep. She doesn't notice the total shock in his eyes, pays no attention to how completely petrified he seemed.

Rocking _back _and _forth, back _and _forth. _Pupils dilated, scratch marks all over his bare legs, he might as well have been dead, too.

He just witnessed… He just saw… _No, don't let him do this, _was all he was thinking even after it was too late.

"_Big day ahead!" _she says happily, ready to show the visitors her rare collection again.

She had no idea that the human was finally broken.

Then he was gone within the day.

He wishes so badly he could just _forget._

_(chorus)_

_You and me, have seen everything to see_

She's seen people killed for no good reason, tortured to death, sentenced to eternity in prison.

She's not a good person, it's only the truth. She was evil down to the bone, she was willing to do things she'd rather you never know about; never _think _about.

And it frightened her, it was distressing to know that she was to cause of so much pain, so much loss and destruction over her own people. But it's better to be feared, than loved.

Love never got anyone anywhere, look at where she was now! Stupid love, messing everything up; things would be so much easier without it!

She's forced to take cover in the canopy of the Forbidden Forest because of the "No sunlight" rule (number 2).

_From Bangkok to Calgary _

_And the soles of your shoes are all worn down_

It's been a long time since he's felt so utterly alone, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was in the middle of nowhere. There were people he's passed; _real people. _Sure, they gave him funny looks because of his ragged clothes, and the pillow case over his head, but they didn't recognize him for what he was. (A first)

He's trekked miles in days during his old life- when he was still a person no one paid much mind to. Now he wonders how on Earth he was able to do it.

The sun starts to rise, so he sits to rest leaning against some kind of tree, trying to get the glass shards from his hand as painless as possible.

_Im_possible. It only starts and ends with a heck of a lot of random words being flung around like curses. By the time he's finished, there is even more blood on his hands, more pain, and a lot more attention towards the man with the pillow-case as a hat. He may look like a total dork, but it's okay because he's on a secret mission.

He quickly finds a puddle of water to wash the red body fluid form his hand, and then some. When he leaves, the puddle it a murky sanguine color worthless to drink and quench his throat from all that screaming.

Too bad screaming actually draws in attention- _unwanted attention._

Moments pass woth him just sitting there, staring at his blurry refection.

There's a shout, a crack over his head, and then there's the darkness he's been flung into _so many times._

Each and every time it hurts more.

_The time for sleep is now_

_It's nothing to cry about_

_Because we'll hold each other soon_

_In the blackest of rooms_

She remembers those few short nights when she _had _him, right there in her arms, when he was all hers. Those were some of the best nights she's had in about a century. She remembers what his small, shattered voice sounded like when he broke down all those times. She knew how long _exactly _each breath was spaced out between the next. She remembered what his heartbeat sounded like, but now she fears she may never hear it ticking away again. That was what was driving her to find him- she needed him back to make more memories like that. She needed more, the ones she had were not enough, and they never would be.

_If heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied_

_Illuminate the NO's on their vacancy signs_

_If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks_

_Then I will follow you into the dark_

**Yay!**

**Um… not much to say… Hooray?**

**-The MasterHama**


	9. Chapter 9

**Song: You Found Me by The Fray**

**Suggested by: HVK**

_I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad_

_Where the West was all but won_

_All alone, smoking his last cigarette_

How-

How many-

How many times…

How many times has he been cracked over the head, and hurled into blackness? Five? Ten?

At first, there's nothing. He's still in his room, still half-asleep, he still has Marceline- and he believes it. Why not believe it? He believes he's there with all those beautiful people, he thinks nothing is wrong.

Then, there is everything- _crashing right down on him crushing him beneath reality. _He feels the cool metal on his cheek sticking to his skin like tape. There is silence all around him, beating his ears like the bass on a soundtrack. There's an excruciating thwacking on the crown of his skull in tune with the thumping of his heart- he recognizes that pain all too well. He finally makes out the noise of his own breathing, flowing in and out of his lungs like the waves of an ocean he once paid a visit to. The last to meet his mind is the sure, cruel, ruthless fear that erupted all at once at the base of his stomach like ice that forces his breath to hitch and jostle his whole body.

Last, he knows _exactly _where he is.

He brings a hand to his fore-head, and rubs the flesh there to help him wake, and scratches the sand from his eyes. _No, no, no._

He opens his lids a crack, welcomed by the calmness of night. "Marceline," He calls out with the last dwindle of hope and breath that he was only dreaming of yesterday. He's greeted_ brilliantly_ with no answer that encouraged him closer to sobs.

Shadows are cast on the floor around him of lines… sticks… braches… _bars. _So familiar to him he feels the stinging in his eyes and the choking in his throat.

No.

_I said, "Where've you been?" He said, "Ask anything."_

He slowly sits up from the ground, careful not to disturb the migraine into anything more to deal with from moving.

_No, please say no, NO, NO, NO. TELL HIM THIS ISN'T WHAT HE THINKS! PLEASE!_

He refuses to believe it, simply that. There was no possible way that they found him in all of Ooo.

But _look! _Do you see the bars surrounding you? Do you remember the white ceiling on the tent above you? Can you _hear _the crowds around you? Can you feel that whip _slicing _through your precious skin?

The first sob jerks him in on himself, the second driving him to clutch his middle in fear it would fall to pieces on him, the third taking air from him until he was gasping for breath.

Please no. Please say no. Don't you _care?_

Tears are falling from the angles on his face, dropping onto his… chest? Where did his shirt go? His blue sweater? His blanket?

Please say he still had them, those garments at the least.

He leans in, head between his knees. He can't be back in Hell when he's sure he was in Heaven.

He doesn't notice when the sun rises, shinning happily on his face through the holes in the tent; doesn't care when there's birds chirping through a tarp to him. What snaps him out of his daze is the voice.

No.

Please.

If you're not going to help, you might as well just _shoot _him.

"You should be happy," She says calmly, standing close to his cell. Her dead, black hair was left lying around her shoulders, still and ever. "You're back."

His nails grip his bare knees, eyes wide in shock.

Shoot him _now._

"Are you hungry?" There's the sound of ceramic sliding against the floor, and the smell of something delicious.

He takes the chance of glancing to his right in her direction; why was she giving him food?

"It's called Apple Pie, my friend Tree Trunks makes the best in Ooo," She only looks up at him from the ground with innocent eyes. Her hands and folded on her waist like an obedient child, back strait, feet together.

He stares at the white plate with "Apple Pie" lying in the center of the circle with a fork lying on the side. He inches closer to it drawn in by hunger. He lifts the utensil from its place, and cuts himself a piece thinking of Jermaine and what he'd do to him if he ate with his hands.

In short, it was the greatest freaking thing he's ever taster in his life. The warmth that came from it was almost more inviting that Marceline's embrace.

_Marceline._

He nearly gags when he pictures her face.

He was betraying her. _He _betrayed her, she didn't do anything. It really sucked to realize it now that it was too late.

She _had _to come back, she promised; but why did he leave? Because he's insane- duh.

"Do you like it?" She takes one step closer, inquiring so much with just her deep black eyes; those wicked, vile, sinful eyes.

The fear inside him spread like Cancer, through every cell in his body that survived this long. His instincts were screaming at his to run, to break for it, to flipping B-Slap that freak show staring him down!

He wants to say something, but he knew the consequences all too well- he cringes at the thought of the words.

"No," She nods in an understanding way as if she were actually asking his opinion. Her locks swing with her head like an umbrella twirling.

His gaze doesn't leave her, this was _not _Ring Master. Ring Master was a vicious, unforgiving, a lethal creature ready to claw you to pieces, eat your meat, and then leave you to die when you're barley alive. She was the Barer of Fire, Ruler of Rings, La Diabla. She was the one to end your life as she laughed, whip in hand. She was a nightmare come to life. She made his life a nightmare.

_This _Ring Master was _girly, nice, caring. _Just the way she was looking at him made him doubt that she was ever that monster. But those memories were too clear, as clear as the scars on his back. He knew not to trust her, though; she was always like this when he was taken back. She was always… _nice._

Then get ready for a beating, Whipping Boy. Have fun.

His tongue rolls in his mouth, pressing to be used to say so many things to her face. His vocal chords yearned to be hummed; they wanted to speak all the things he's meant to say over years. And for a moment, he thinks of letting them.

She turns her head at an angle away from him, as if she felt pain to say it- "Where _were _you?"

That's it, she's done it.

He opens his mouth, and bares his teeth like Marceline does when she warns others to back away. He said to himself that if he ever finds himself back in here, he's going to be the animal she wants him to be.

Fear? What fear? Right now that Fear is hormonal rage.

Her eyes widen slightly, she wasn't expecting that.

"_Where?" _He shrieks, standing so quickly the world spins around and forces him to grip the bars. "I was living, Bitch!"

Ouch…

"I was alive! For once!" The pounding in his skull makes him bow his head, perfect for eye contact. His hands struggle to keep his wobbling legs steady, his fore-arms fight to hold him up from collapsing.

Just shoot him for cryin' out loud, have mercy; or are you going to stand back like all the others and watch him suffer? Now that would be easy, wouldn't it?

Out of mind?

Maybe that's why he's so broken, no one ever tried to repair the early cracks in the Man of Glass.

_Where were you, when everything was falling apart._

_All my days were spent by the telephone that never rang_

She's never felt this, _never. _She hasn't even felt this in her previous life.

Panic. She is panicking. This is not good. She doesn't want to panic, but what choice does she have? Maybe Panic is what's keeping her going. Or was it something else?

But what else could be driving a Vampire to find a Needle in a Haystack other than Panic?

She was so careful with him, completely watchful over all he did like danger was lingering around the corner to rip him from her grip. Maybe the danger was her.

Perhaps she was the monster he was supposed to fear right from the beginning instead of that "Ring Master" he told her about. Maybe she was meant to be feared by the one she loves.

At this moment, she feels empathy for Ring Master.

It's been a day and a night of searching, forlorn quests for the one who ran. Every second she spent away from him was a second she could be with him, holding him, protecting him.

Why was she so stupid to let him go so easily?

"FINN!" She cries out into the night, waiting several moments only welcomed by silence.

Darn, she was sure that would work.

Where _is _he? Where did he disappear off to? Did he even have a destination in mind- apparently not judging by what he left behind.

At first, she was pretty sure he was dead. Well, he was only human, and there's been some Rainicorns flying around for the annual Day of Colors.

Plus, it was freezing outside, and that kid left with only one blanket.

Then, she flew across this- a puddle of water housing a decent amount of blood in the middle of the Forest.

This wasn't just blood; it was Finn's blood swirling around in water like a storm on a smaller scale. When she found it, she wasn't sure if she should cheer because she knew where he was going, or if she should fall with terror because of the realization that _Finn, _her Finn, was _dying._

Or just really hurt.

Either way, it's a fact that she flew even faster after finding clue number one.

_And all I needed was a call that never came_

_To the corner of 1st and Amistad_

_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor, surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late, you found me, you found me._

She's been going over those first beautiful memories for hours like they were the last things keeping her from falling over the edge of Sanity, (they probably were).

She could see his crystal blue eyes from behind his mop of tangled dirty locks of gold, staring at her from above his knees with suck intensity she had to pinch herself to stop fidgeting with need. She can practically hear all those people calling back and forth mindless insults that turned to screams when she showed her identity. She can feel the tension in her muscles when she pulled the bars back as if she were going it all over again.

She found him, he was her responsibility. Or was that just an excuse for her to hang around?

She can still see those amazingly striking eyes brighter than the sun on a good day, she can still see those dark eyes squeezed shit as they cried on a bad day.

She can still hear his voice, she still cares about him, and she still loves him.

_But in the end everyone ends up alone_

He was expecting it; he's not going to deny that he was assuming that he'd be back in this cell at one time or another. It's only what this cruel Life had in store for him, no hard feelings?

Well, from the start really- He's known he wasn't going to be able to actually _leave. _He may escape those bars for a short amount of time, but they were still around him even if he couldn't see them. He'd never _really _escape.

Everyone ends up trapped, right? No matter what? Ring Master told him that. But why does everyone end up alone, going solo; why is everyone excluded from the pack sooner or later? Do they want to leave, or are the forced out? Maybe they aren't even alone to start with.

_Losing her, the only one who's ever known_

_Who I am, who I'm not and who I wanna to be_

_No way to know how long she will be next to me_

She's changed him, there's no doubting that. What _was _he, an injured animal ready to be hit and take it? But he's Human, it isn't right for a Human to expect to be hit… Is it?

After her "Showing-Up" those first few days, he got a little better. He still thought he'd be knocked over the head when he made eye-contact, even now.

Of all the people in Ooo, there were exactly three people to knew who he was. The Cyclops Guy, Marceline, and Ring Master.

Oh, sorry, were you expecting Jake, Beemo, or Jermaine? Well here's where he bursts your bubble- they _don't _know him. You may think that, _they _may think that, but in all reality they have no idea _who, _or _what _he is. He wishes he could tell you, he wishes he could break it to himself- He's only Human.

Humans are so fragile, so breakable; all you needled was-

A bullet.

It all depends on who's shooting.

There was no telling how long she was going to have him when he's weighing his chances with bullets. But when he finally decides what to do, who will he be losing; himself, or her? But those bullets seem really nice right about now.

There's no knowing how long they'd have each other, there's no telling how long he'll be willing to get up and forgive her. Has he already lost her, has he lost all his hope?

…

...

Can you lend him a bullet?

_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor, surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late, you found me, you found me._

It was the Annual Chicken Parade at Chicken Blood Cove where they hand out free eggs. He came every year for that one reason; y'see, he had no job and ate about every two days. He took every free meal he could because he had no choice.

After his parents croaked he was on his own. His brother left home on his own years earlier, he had no idea where he went, no knowledge if he would even take him in. All alone in the world, he scavenged for food and money wherever he could- Thank Glob for the Chicken Parade. He relied on the dozens of eggs he got that one day of the rest.

All around were floats of Hens and Roosters from the days prior to The Great Mushroom War, feathers of paper and eyes made of old car tires. They were carried on these things called "Pick Up Trucks", whatever those were.

He piled up white and brown eggs in a huge basket like precious mountains. In good time, he had to grow larger just to keep it from sagging on the ground.

Even in a crowd of hundreds, it was easy to pick out a fellow dog especially his bright yellow color. After blinking his always drowsy eyes, the picture cleared to an image of his brother.

His breath caught in his throat; he thought Jermaine was dead. "JERMAINE!" He screamed drawing too much unwanted attention. "BRO! OVER HERE!" He shoved his way through the crowds of people, doing his best not to drop any of the valuable loads. He embraced his stunned brother when he finally got to him, "Where've you been?" he didn't mean for his voice to break like that.

They stood in silence for a minute… until Jake started to cry on his shoulder. He missed Jermaine more than anything. He thought he was alone in this world, his family dead, his home condemned, he was forced to do things he'd rather forget about. He thought his life was over for a while there.

Jermaine per se, he'd been living in luxury. He worked in the Candy Kingdom as a Peace-Keeper after Princess Bubblegum went missing. There, he earned enough to buy himself a home, a _valley, _and he'd lived there separated from the rest of the world up 'til then. Unlike the other, he knew Jake was alive… somewhere. He thought Jake was happy without him.

He overlooked his brother in horror and disgust. Jake's once bright golden fur was coated heavily with mud, fleas, and… _blood? _The pads of his feet were blistered from travels Jermaine could only read of. Deep gashes were scattered over his body so far into his skin you could see the muscle ready to rot away. Through all, his eyes were the same as ever- hope filled and delighted no matter the things they've seen. "What… _happened _to you?"

The content gaze flattered- the first blow. He wiped some water from his eyes as they lowered to the ground. "Mom and Dad," He whispered, "they're dead."

Jermaine's breath was cut short, _"What?" _He held on to the other's shoulders, begging for an explanation, "You're joking, right?"

Jake shook his head solemnly, where did the happiness that was his go? "The house isn't ours anymore, either."

Jermaine tried to force his head up from the floor so he could speak to him, but it only ended with Jake stepping away from him.

"What are you talking about?"

"I stole things and I hid them- bikes. I hurt people, I hurt _me," _He whimpers suddenly, tears rolled down his face, "Jermaine, why didn't you _find _me?"

He missed Jake, too.

_The early morning, the city breaks_

_And I've been calling for years and years and years_

It was _so _

Typical.

He-

He was-

He was here again.

The crowds around him roar louder than life, the screams and shouts pounding in his ears like the beating of a drum. His lungs take in as much air as they could, oxygen was running low by the hour.

Time was fleeing by the hour, as well. The face on the clock was laughing at him, its hands reaching out to grab him and squeeze him until he thought his last thought. He knew what was coming as soon as the last of the tourists were gone.

_Whip the Whipping Boy…_

He cringes at the crystal clear image of those gems on the handle. He feels his heart quicken inside his chest ticking his limited time away much too quickly. All day long-

Or has it been a week?

Since he's been open to the public again, he's been searching frantically over all the faces for a cloaked one- a face with eyes as red as autumn leaves, skin as pale as winter's first snow, fangs as sharp as his tongue. He was looking for the most beautiful face he'd ever seen to no avail.

_Where-_

_Where is she? _He thinks, peering out from the locks of golden hair. His knees are brought in to his chest, arms crossed over his legs. He wanted to cry, he wanted to shiver, he wanted to be alone- he was afraid.

Afraid for his _life! _He knew it- He wasn't going to see tomorrow.

He's been hoping, praying, begging for her to come and take him away from this place to a place where'd he'd never have to think about these things again.

It was so typical.

"Look at it!" A little girl screeches out above the rest, "What is that thing?" She tugs on a man's pants next to her, pointing a grubby sapphire colored finger right at him, "Can I talk to it?"

The man only rubs his hand over her stupid little head, "No, it's very dangerous, sorry dear." He smiles apologetically, never taking his gaze off the cage.

Finn watches them carefully from behind his bars. The little girl stares enviously at him; her washed out, single white eye wanting him. Her small, icy blue hands clench and unclench itching to touch him. Women scare him.

Without any sort of warning, she rips away from the man's side, and starts to race over to the cage. Dodging waving arms, slipping through legs. He found her directly in front of his cell.

Her snowy face is puffed out with pride, "You know!" She announces right to him. The girl starts to climb up the side of the enclosure, gripping the metal walls all the way to the bars.

He backs away from that side of the cell sliding on his butt until his back hits the poles. He observes the little girl make it all the way to his level. His billowed out green dress falls down over her ankles; how did she manage to get up there? "Where's my daddy?" She shouts out, right at him, one eye burning into his.

Daddy? Then who was that man?

"Leave," He whispers, turning away from her. He couldn't say anything more than that, he wouldn't.

She growls out "No! He's here!" Her grip on the bars loosen quickly, she was about to fall.

In that last second, he saw in her face someone he knew. Maybe it was her one eye. He can't help but smile inside.

Her hands squeak against the metal, her mouth opens to scream.

Without thinking, without knowing, without meaning to, he launches himself off the ground, the world spinning too fast around him. He slid his bare chest against the metal floor, his good hand out stretched. The stinging pain of weight in the joint of his wrist forces him to jerk up.

She just hung there, a foot form the trampled ground. He just lay there, trying not to drop her.

Ooo really needs a hero.

She's taken from his hands, taken far, far away where he'd never see her again. He knew it- He'd have to pay for this somehow.

He knows it, he's no hero.

Sooner than later, he curls in on himself; the sun starts to set under the horizon. His time is up.

He sobs quietly, he hurt already inside. He knows what's coming for him. He knows what's going to happen to him.

Can you stop it?

_And you never left me no messages _

_You never sent me no letters_

A puddle of blood. That's what she found.

A _puddle _of _blood. _Are you _serious? _She is a VAMPIRE, for cryin' out loud!

But it's a good thing she just ate a bunch of strawberries, right?

She kicked a pile of dirt into the water soaking up the puddle into part of the land, she didn't want anyone else to know there was an injured human walking around- she didn't want anyone spotting an easy kill.

She tugs the flaps of her cloak in around her to ward off the frightened feeling in her gut. Soon, she took flight, searching madly in every inch over every inch of the forest.

After a hopeless hour, she recognized the blue fabric below, alone in a sea of green it stood out all too well.. Panicking, she dives down to the ground to make sure it wasn't his-

Sweater. His sweater and his shirt.

She carefully raises his possessions to her face- they smelled of Finn, _her _Finn.

But why would he take them off if it was near freezing? Was he that stupid? She tucks the clothes into her cloak for safety. Now she knew which direction he was going in.

Before she was ready, her instincts flew her towards the sounds and stenches of _people. _Three people she knew were there even before she came to them- a man, a young boy, and an older woman, all made of chocolate. They were chatting amongst themselves excitedly, too loud in her opinion.

They stop abruptly when they come across a hooded figure in their path glaring with unnoted hatred upon them.

"Um, excuse me, can we help you?" The old chocolate woman asks irritably.

Her jaw clenches, "Where are you coming from?" She hisses, hands turn fists.

The little boy chirps up with no invitation "The circus We had A LOT of fun!"

Her blood red eyes flicker towards him, sending his to cower behind the man, "Human? Was there a human?"

Please say there wasn't a human.

The woman groans, "It was _hideous! _Yellow hair, no shirt! What a disgrace of Glob!" She throws her Candy-Cane around to emphasis her point.

She asks quickly, "Where's the Circus?"

The man waves his hand to brush away her question, "No use, we were all told to leave early. We dunno why." He nods his head back behind him, "Half a mile away, huge white tent, you can't miss it."

First thought- _He did something. _Second thought- _They're going to do something._

She flew right up and over the trio's shocked faces, her nose guiding her. She knew she was close, so close.

She just needed to get there _now._

_You got some kind of nerve taking all I want_

_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me_

He was taken from his cage. When he wouldn't move, they dragged him out down a stepping stool, and across the trampled upon dead grass inside the tent.

He didn't even put up a fight. What was the use?

He was brought to the familiar three-foot poles of wood with leather ties hanging off each. Their shadows were cast to the left by electric lights of another time.

The Faceless Men dragged him in between the two posts, and bubkled the leather around each of his wrists. His head was hanging below his shoulders, he was defeated without a battle.

Then came the vicious, dangerous, hate-filled voice- "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Everything. He had everything to say. He wanted to speak for the times he didn't, he wanted to talk for the lost friend who no longer could, he needed to let her know.

There came no answer. No sound, no acknowledgment that he even heard her. His bare back twitches with anticipation, the rippled long, think white scars reminded her of all those other times.

"Do it," She nods to the taller worker who held the whip.

He saw the glint of colors reflected off the colored stones onto the floor. Bright green light spider-webbed over the ground around him, creating the perfect shadow of himself cast on the grass.

He hears the sickening snap of the whip, the forced grunt of the man; the same things every time… then, a female scream, a shout, someone falling…

What were they waiting for?

"YOU!" It was Ring Master, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She sounded as furious as a hurricane. He could practically see the dust falling off of her shaking body.

But where was the pain? The whip- did it touch him without him knowing it? That's never happened before to him. If so, what was the point of keeping silent if there was no consequence?

"Right back at 'cha, sister," Came a calm, deep tone, dark and filled with warning. It was powerful, stronger than his hope as a child. It was the voice of-

"Marceline!" He cried out, leaning his head over his shoulder trying to see behind him, ending in total failure.

Marceline… She came? Why would she come for him? Didn't she forget about him?

"_Finn," _Her word breaks with pity, pity for him. Or was in anguish?

No, she had to get out of there. They were going to kill her along with him somehow. They always know how to kill.

There a 'came Ring Master's screeching as if she were the animal, here "GIVE IT TO ME!"

"Don't-

"Don't give it to her!" He tries to say, but something cut him off. His voice sputtered in his sentence like a flickering light. He didn't mean to… _stutter. _He's new to stuttering.

Why would he if he's not afraid to speak?

_Lying on the floor_

_Where were you? Where were you?_

She didn't skip a beat; the second she saw the lit up tent she flew right in through a hole in the tarp and crashed into this guy…

But in the end it turned out knocking that guy into unconsciousness was good thing.

At first, she was confused because there was a woman practically fist-pumping, a peppermint guy with half a face watching helplessly, and a buff knight holding a whip. Then she saw Finn kneeling on the ground- SHIRTLESS!

(Finally!)

That woman… the one with the long dead black hair and fake-looking skin- she seemed familiar, but where did she know her from? She might've not liked her when they met the first time, because with no hesitation she down right hated her when she saw Finn tied up and _shirtless._

What a bitch.

"He's mine!" She shouts, dropping her hood down around her shoulders. "Step _off!" _that was HER shirtless man!

The other scoffs, _"Your's? _What the cabbage? I found the human first!" She points a thumb at her own chest, and gestures towards Finn, "He's known me for an eternity!" She counters, Finn was rightfully her property.

Marceline bares her fangs in rage, still tinged with red from the strawberries, "Go to the Night-o-Sphere you sick freak!" She backs away from her one step, two steps, going for a third where she'd be able to free that shirtless Finn.

Then all too soon with no kind of explanation, the stench of death wafts around the tent… around _her. _It started to choke her, its invisible fingers shoving themselves down her throat and pinching off her nose. It was a smell of horror, one all vampires should fear and cower from. Someone here knew of the "No Garlic" rule (number 3). What a total jack-ass.

Finn had no idea what the red and white Faceless man was holding up, but he knew it wasn't anything good. it was some kind of white flower bud that smelled horrible forcing his nose to twitch.

"Mar-

"Marceline!" He calls out, trying to see the scene behind him only causing his neck to cramp. He was met with no answer, nothing to say to him that she was alright.

There's a thump as if someone fell to the floor, and coughing sounds coming from behind him.

At least she found him, at least she was there.

_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor, surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?_

No.

_NO!_

He struggles against the leather ropes, yanking each arm to no success of self-liberation. His boney arms crackle with each thrust, his teeth grinding into the other row from pain.

"How did she _find _you?" Ring Master screams, the green light of stone showering in all directions, "How does she _know _you?" Her voice breaks, why did her voice break? Then, there is a sob, is she crying? "Why, did she call you _Finn?" _

That was it. He's done with her.

"I-

"I love-

"I _love _her."

His words were shattering. He couldn't keep them in one piece; it was like they were breaking in his hands and scattering to dust when they hit the ground.

There's a sniffle, the green light shaking with her hand, _"How?"_

He says it as sympathetically as he could. "She loves _me."_

The _snap_ of the whip. A fire trails its claw deep beneath his skin cutting into his muscle and down to his bone where the electricity sparks and scatters down into his legs. He cries out, his fists holding fast onto the leather. The black behind his eye lids forms the color red for the pain.

Another crack of the weapon, another mouth-full of skin gone, another fire in his arm where it jostles his limb uncontrollably, and another scream out into the night- only there was someone to hear them.

We have an audience.

She was still alive… barley. Almost unable to breathe, unable to see, unable to _think. _All she could do was lie there, and listen to the gut-wrenching, tortured sounds coming out of his mouth, rumbling along her ears like the sound of a time-bomb ticking away. She doesn't know why, but compared to all other tortured screams she's heard, these are going to haunt her dreams to nightmares for a long, _long _time. A decade?

A decade of nightmares. She knew of someone who could ward them away- if he survives.

She cringes at the volume of is screech, louder than the explosion of the nuclear bombs.

She feels the water fall from her eyes. _Please stop. Don't hurt him._

**This was all her fault.**

He shouldn't have to pay for _her mistake. _Don't hurt him, he's been through enough.

After the eighth agony filled blow he took, he fell into the black of an oblivion. He couldn't take it any longer, he couldn't bare it anymore. Maybe when he woke, everything would be okay.

Ring Master delivered one last swipe to him, then another only for the feel of it even after he was responding. This is what he gets for speaking, for leaving her, for falling _in love _with someone else! He gets to feel how she does inside.

Eventually, Marceline was out cold as well, hurled into a darkness full of screams, blood, and the loss of life from the few she loved

What a horrible thing to do- to drag another along with one into a deep dark abyss of no return.

_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor, surrounded, surrounded_

There were some many things she regretted, so many people she let down. She's been doing that for _one thousand years, and six months going on seven. _There were so many things she wishes she could forget about, so many things she wishes she could go back to, and things she could correct. But the world is an unforgiving place which is only the truth when it came to eternity.

Now that she was confronted with death, she can see what a horrible undead life she's been leading. All that resulted was for her to come to an abrupt stop right here with the Last Human.

It was so typical. That's how the universe works- it puts the Lion and the Lamb together and expects the lamb gone on the hour. What it doesn't expect, is the Lion cuddling it up with that injured Lamb over there on a couch, in a cloak, inside a crumbling house.

The universe could never predict the Lion and the Lamb to be this way around each other.

_Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?_

The next night, he wakes first as always, a different kind of tradition. He's not in his prison, why was he left here still breathing?

He's still tied to the poles. He's still in pain; but tomorrow is today, and it was already more than he hoped for.

"Marceline," He croaks out, now struggling with the binds still around his worn raw wrists. He takes in a breath through his teeth when blood breaks through the fragile skin at his hand.

Today, he feels better and worse. On the outside he's in distress; shredded tissue at his wrists, open gashes on his hand, and long, twisted, burning slashes where she gouged out his last shred of humanity on his back.

She stirs slightly, eyes flicking to life, "Finn?" She moans, dropping her head on the ground where it rests for a moment or so. "You alive?"

Her voice was like warmth to his soul, relief spearing through him like Summer's sunlight.

He coughs, "I think so," gasping slightly in shock, his voice of whole was back in action and not failing on him when he needed it. "You still sorts dead?"

She hums a note, "Maybe, got a wooden stake?"

He spots the two poles on either side of him, "Yeah."

Slowly, she sits up looking around for any sort of hazard willing to put his life in jeopardy. All seemed well at first until her gaze met what his couldn't.

What a stroke of luck it was for him to not be able to see his own back. The bloody hell was all over his skin, read blotchy liquid splattered all over the ground behind him and on the back of his pants. It was as if someone just _mauled _him to pieces. Was this what it was always like? Could she ever bring herself to ask?

Her nose twitches with the delicious smell of the iron in his… _blood. _It was literally glowing against his pale-ish skin, crusting as it dried everywhere is lay. Why was it always so hard for her around blood?

"H-how are you?" She asks, ripping her gaze from his massacre of a body.

He manages a shrug, "Same," He hisses in another breath through his mouth when the skin on his back pulls, "Rope," He whispers, careful not to shout.

She has an _OH _moment, and floats gently over to his place on the ground. His eyes should have a dead look in them, yet instead they're calm, almost cheerful. They hold a tender smile his mouth could not perform from biting his lip so hard.

Cautiously, she unbuckles both ropes from each hand, both falling on some place of the ground in exhaustion.

"Finn," She breathes, "I think we need to go to Doctor Princess," She shoves the hair out of his eyes so she can see them clearly, "And find a barber."

His unguarded eyes flatter when she touches him, "Leave," He suddenly says with some kind of wonder, "We can leave." He looks over her shoulder for someone, but no one is there for him to see.

She gives him a puzzled look, "Why's that so amazing about it?"

He only shakes his head with disbelief, "She gave up," He bows his head in either shame, or skepticism.

"Yeah, I kinda kicked her ass back there," She smiles majestically, white spiked teeth shining brightly against her pitch black locks.

He looks at her like she was crazy, "Because I love _you," _What a dumb thing to do- just come right out and say it? He's getting braver by the day, or he's just still if-y on the definition of Love.

Her smirk dulled to like a failing lamp, she searched every inch of his face for proof he was lying. Why would he say he loved her? "That doesn't make sense."

She could see his ribs clearly of how skinny he was, if he were any paler she might've been able to compare. His ocean blue eyes glinted in the artificial light playfully. This was him trusting her. "I love you."

Those three words were a blow to the chest for two reasons.

One- She's been waiting for someone, _anyone _to say them to her (which is what you call desperation, by the way). It's was because she felt unloved, probably for the reason she scared off _everyone._

Two- the last person to ever said that to her, was her mom. And must she remind you, _her mom died up to ONE THOUSAND years ago? _

At that moment, she was very close to crying her eyes out. "I love you too, Finn," That was the truth.

It's always the universe's fault when the Lion falls for the Lamb.

Where was that Lamb all this time, hiding?

_Just a little late, you found me, you found me._

He's not sure why he needs her, doesn't know why he wants her so badly. All he's sure of, is that she needs him.

He was better now on the inside, he was going to be braver.

Because once you've hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up.

_Why'd you have to wait, to find me, to find me?_

**Hurray! I worked about 15 hours on this chapter. C'mon, be proud, SIX TOUSAND WORDS #$%&! That rocks my socks off.**

**Oh, and I got a devianart account now! I am TheMasterHama there and there's a link in my profile here. **

**Song Topics:**

**-Love**

**-Fear**

**-Angst**

**-Romance**

**-Okay look I need a lot of angst and love for the next chapter, and some pain in the mix, too.**

**Thanks!**

**~The MasterHama**


	10. Chapter 10

**Song: Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift**

**Suggested by **

**A/N: This is the last chapter for the story Be My Escape.**

_I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go_

It had been five days. _Five days. _Five sun rises, six sun sets, five evenings spent perfectly alone in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar place, unmoving and unspeaking. _Five _torturous twilights in the only place in Ooo where he and Marceline could not be together- The Candy Kingdom.

The Candy Kingdom was a place of trepidation, a fortress of misery, a cesspool for violations and criminality. Each wall of every building had been vandalized to the nastiest of pictures and words. Murders occurred every other week; robberies were more common than the City of Thieves. Without a leader, anything can happen to the abandoned, especially when they were jostled to begin with.

The Candy Kingdom was also the only place in Ooo with an actual hospital, willing to take in anyone for anything.

_Extraordinary. _That was the first word to come out of her mouth, assuming she was female; another name to add to the ever growing list of what he was. She said that it was a miracle he was even alive, that he was _still _alive. Infection had set into the wounds on his hand, wrists, and back. The spines of the aged rope had dug into his skin so deep doctors and nurses had to hold him down as they removed them. More restraints were added when they needed to disinfect the wounds on his back; he can honestly say he'd rather go through another beating than endure that kind of pain. After he bit off a licorice man's finger, someone simply cracked him over the head and they were able to stitch the engravements in his flesh together.

Who were those people who held him down? Who shoved a stick of wood into his mouth when they snapped the bones in his arms into the right positions? Who was the woman who called him extraordinary- the one with the lab coat, glasses, green skin and charm around her head?

Where was Marceline?

He was fed a diet of four large meals per day, every day. One of meat, one of grains, another of greens, and another he could care less about. He feared usually that he'd blow up from all the food he'd eaten; he's never had that much food in his entire life. They try to say it's good for him, but he constantly second guesses the insects they serve him- they're supposedly high in protein, whatever that was.

They were alone together in the vacant wing, colored tiles beneath them and sky lights shining down sun.

He couldn't move- literally. The vicious doctors tied down his ankles to the bed post so he wouldn't be able to go on a rampage and slice open their children like he threatened to. Well, it's not like he _wanted _to stand, he knew he'd only open his slashes and have to go through that whole terrifying process again. On the other hand, he did miss crying his eyes out in private.

"And, and then he called me a loser," Jake moaned, wiping his nose on the back of his paw, "W-why is Jermaine so _mean _to me?" Jake had been confiding in Finn for five days with all his deep secrets and sad stories from when he was a pup to his adult years. Who else was he to talk to, who else was to listen? Finn there had no choice.

His jaw rested on the badly stained flat pillow protruding out to form some kind of pout. His forehead was wrinkled from the position and the never ending tales that were woven around and strangling him until he fell into an artificial slumber. Five eternal days of _this._

Doctors told him his own sure strength is what broke his bones. When he yanked back on the leather ropes, when he beat his arms on the walls at home- he slowly was hurting _himself _and he hadn't even known it. No one had.

They also said he was too far gone to ever be normal- they predicted he'd have nightmares for the rest of his life, no one would ever take him in, and would probably commit suicide within the year.

Liars.

THEY WERE LYING TO HIM!

Whenever Marceline was there nightmares were a thing of the past, Marceline would take him in without skipping a beat, Marceline was the reason he _hadn't _killed himself.

Marceline, Marceline, Marceline.

She

Was

_Everything._

But why wouldn't she come? WHY wasn't she there with him? Why didn't she care?

Jermaine.

He's his new abuser.

Jermaine is the one who told the doctors to punish him along with false promises that they "were trying to help him." Jermaine watched… He watched him thrash around for his life trying to get away, he saw the utterly terrified eyes, he heard the wails, and he was responsible. Jermaine made sure that Finn felt everything they did, he made sure he felt the fire in the lashes on his back, the re-breaking of his bones, _everything. _He refused to let the nurses give him pain medication; he didn't want them to "sedate" him, either. Jermaine is a sin.

Right before the torture, he asked the only word he could.

"_M-Marceline?"_

Jermaine's sentence was carefully chosen, painstakingly thought through; his words were meant to _destroy _him. They broke him down to rubble like a bomb, they burned him like an inferno, and they slaughtered him like cattle.

"_She doesn't want to be with you."_

_When all those shadows almost killed your light_

She's seen so many things she's had to write them down in a list just to remember.

She's been to so many places that she's back-tracked without knowing it.

She's done things she wished she hadn't, please don't remind her.

She can honestly tell you she hasn't ever thought specific thoughts until the moment Jermaine told her she couldn't go into the Candy Kingdom. She envisioned burning the mutt on a cross, gorging his eyes out with a fork, even turning him over to her people to watch him be ripped apart. She was a vicious creature capable of anything.

It was incredible for Jermaine to tell her that, especially because his arm was still in a sling at that time.

"_Keep your filthy demon hands to yourself or I'll have you decapitated! Stay out of my kingdom or you'll be sorry!" _Were his exact words.

Asshole.

She was sat on the thick of a branch in the Cotton Candy Forest, staring down at the greenish-yellow grasses. Her covered legs dangled below, swinging as if she were the child from so long ago. Her hair waved around her with no wind, it was often as if she were under water as some kind of mermaid. She looked down at her bare scarred feet thinking of all the thinks she stepped on with them.

Countless ant colonies, fingers, rocks, dead children's toys, dead children. She's stepped on a lot of things, mostly by accident.

She's been alone in the place for five days and six nights. There was no one to talk to or to be with, just herself in an unfamiliar place with the very familiar isolation. She's spent decades at a time without company, flying alone, sleeping alone, and talking to only her reflection. She didn't even notice that she was losing herself by the day by counting them.

It was very common for Vampires to go insane from isolation, she stopped keeping track of how many she put down to rest after two hundred.

How many insane people has the Candy Kingdom put to rest? Will they do the same to Finn? That's what she's feared. She'd been taking out her feelings by beating the trunks of trees, which is not the most efficient way to release anxiety.

Finn, what if he was gone before she had her chance? What if she never got to show him how to be brave, how to walk among others, how to _live? _There was still so much she had to tell him, to _show _him!

And she absolutely, positively, unquestionably _knew _that the chance of losing him was at its highest.

_I remember you said "Don't leave me here alone,"_

She never thought she'd leave him.

She never thought he'd follow her like a lost puppy.

She never knew he loved her.

She assumed he was with her because she was some sort of Mother-Figure to him.

She never thought she'd love him.

She always thought she'd be alone forever.

How many forevers has she lived through?

She's never made so many promises in a month.

She made a promise not to promise anything because she can't ever keep them.

She promised she'd never leave him.

_But all that's dead and gone and past tonight_

He's been through too much. He's seen too much.

And he's done _nothing _to deserve it.

So why does Glob hate him?

Was he there just to be pushed down? Was he given nothing, then everything, just to have it taken away? When was he going to finally fall? Or should he save you the trouble and do it himself?

He has been _broken._

He has been _destroyed._

He has been _betrayed_

_Abused_

_Murdered_

_Tortured_

_Damaged_

So how could you just

LOOK AWAY WHEN HE CALLED FOR YOU?

Isn't there a heart ticking away your time inside _you? _ Isn't there a heart thumping away as you read his story? Isn't there a soul somewhere locked away in you that you refuse to show?

You

Tell

_Him._

Tick tock, tick tock goes the clock.

_Just close your eyes, the sun is going down_

_You'll be alright; no one can hurt you now_

_Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound_

_Don't you dare look out your window darling everything's on fire_

There was still so much to do,

To say

To see

To hear.

The possibilities were trampled over, burnt to the ground, slayed and torn apart by the content of a final decision. _Her _possible futures were completely _destroyed _by the one who created them.

He watched his loved one wither and disintegrate over time and fall into his enemy's carful grasp- does he still feel envy when he thinks of what _he _might be doing with _his _rightfullover?

And beautiful, courageous, powerful Marceline; is he still strong on his final decision? Is he still proud that he was as destructive as a bomb to her possible future? The future that never came to be?

It wasn't that he didn't _care _about his daughter's future, it was exactly the opposite.

After _She _decided to just float up and away into the wine colored clouds and through the golden gates of Heaven, he then realized that it was such a horrible reality to love a mortal. He came to the crossroads and went left- he would _not _lose Marceline as well. He _could not _lose her because Marceline was all he had after _She _left them behind. But why would Marceline abandon him just like her Mother if he only loved her? Can anybody _really _love Satan?

_The war outside our door keeps raging on_

_Hold on to this lullaby_

Only once had he heard her sing and when she did he was frightened into whimpers and shivers. The specific words she spoke sparked a lone memory, one that he actually managed to forget.

The icy, all-consuming terror traveled with him because of the memory. Fear's unfriendly hands latched onto his abdomen where it nested until he was wrapped in the warmth of Marceline. It kept him weighed down from his full potential like a newly hatched bird whose wing was caught under a stone.

This specific memory had nothing to do With the Silver Lining Circus.

He held onto it as long as he could, though that torturous, deafening, murdering place wiped everything horrible from his previous life by over powering his memories with new cruelty.

When she sang to him that night, all that he thought was _"Or I'll shoot!"' _and he had no idea what the words meant or why he thought them up.

Bad-luck seemed to have walked by his side throughout his entire life, yet he hadn't done anything to deserve it. He was destined to fail, and fail from the start. There was nothing anyone could do to reverse it, not even his creator.

It was too late to go back, so he might as well have just ended it while he still could.

He needed something worse than that Hell Hole to make him forget it just like the first time around. It was almost impossible.

Well, he'd never forget it completely, he was raised there, beaten there, nearly killed there. It would just fade like a regular day into his mind as if it were nothing.

What could _possibly _be worse than the Silver Lining Circus?

_Even when the music's gone_

It had been seven years since The Candy Kingdom has had a leader though that was half-way solved with appointed Peace-Keepers scattered around the fortress. It had been seven years since hope was the heart and soul of Ooo. Though through all, most important was that the majestic and beautiful Princess Bubblegum had been missing for nearly seven years as well.

It was seven deadly years of forlorn citizens who could not leave the place they were brought into- seven disastrous years full of lies and annihilation.

In the beginning, right after word spread that their Mother and her Right Hand Man were nowhere to be found, desperate citizens trekked away from the safe walls of home in search of them.

None who left had returned.

Next came the Peace-Keepers who were brought together by the rulers of the Cloud Kingdom. The Peace-Keepers were meant to control the frantic crowds and bring security upon the lost Candy People- which ended horribly. Laws were put in place that restricted them to such measures that no one could leave the Kingdom itself without a mound of Paper-Work filled out. You needed identification to enter the Palace, you couldn't be out after eight o'clock- the Candy Kingdom was a Pre-School with the kind of security where you'd need an adult with you in the bathroom stall.

Then at last, the once weak Candy People became the vicious monsters they were never meant to be. All at once, every one of them strong enough decided that that way of life would be no more. On the hour, every single Peace-Keeper was murdered in cold-blood… all except _their _commander.

Jermaine made a promise to himself he'd never step foot in that place where the blood on his hands oozed until it was dripping. Jermaine has seen more death than anyone ever should, he's been responsible for much more than he ever thought a pup. The only reason he was there in his old apartment in the palace was because of the pleading look in his brother's newly weighed down eyes.

A fresh promise was made that day- He would never hurt Jake again.

"_I don't CARE what you have to say! He's not worth it! We should just dump him in the woods for the wolves!"_

He couldn't ever hurt Jake, never again.

It hurt _him_ even more.

_Just close your eyes, the sun is going down_

It was the Annual Day of Colors. It was a special event thrown every January 30th from Sunrise to Sunset. The Day of Colors was the one day of the year when it was required to feel hope. January 30th was the day Princess Bubblegum had left them; why else would they highlight the date on their calendars?

On January 30th, all the Rainicorns in Ooo are sent out on a search that always ended in failure. The Kingdom transformed into its old self, such as hanging banners and lighting candles for the lost. Every January 30th they pray to Abraham Lincoln that she will someday return to them and they will no longer have to be the beasts they became.

Marceline thought the Day of Colors was a waste of precious time and effort. But this specific January, she was going to use it to its full potential.

She had forced herself to stay awake through the night and the early hours of morning successfully ignoring the way her eyes dropped and head lolled whenever she sat. She needed to see Finn; she needed to make sure he was safe and sound in the worst place to be in the world.

Cheering crowds echoed from behind the walls of solidified sugar like the spectators in a coliseum loud enough to deafen a new born. Festivities had already eagerly begun, she couldn't ask for more.

She pulled the hood and sleeves of her cloak far enough to completely consume all showing skin- just moving in sunlight was dangerous enough, yet she couldn't help but add on and on to her situation.

Hundreds of sugar filled Candy People poured in and out of the main gate unaware of the possible danger among them. A hooded figure wasn't strange at all, even on January 30th no matter how secretive their body language seemed or abnormal they were against the bright colors the rest wore proudly. At one time or another each one of them was a Hooded Figure.

It was almost too easy to get into the Candy Kingdom, she was sure the Mutt would have put _some _kind of obstacle in her way- per se a Why Wolf?

All around the demolished courtyard were stands giving away holiday related items- sparklers, masks, sugary foods, and even black wigs.

She shook her head in disgrace, people were foolish.

She remembered Princess Bubblegum from the royalty meetings from so long ago; ten, twenty years? Somewhere around there… maybe. She stopped showing up even before she went missing; it was something she never bothered to search out an answer for. The Princess was a hideous creature that should've been sent to the Night-O-Sphere as soon as she came out of her test tube. She was a scientific failure; it was written all over her face. Just by a glance of her dead black locks you'd attempt to hide a face of disgust, just by a second of eye contact you'd see hers were never meant to be total shadows. All the black bounded back from the bright pink candy skin, it was unnatural and horrifying to be in her presence- but she always seemed to have a gorgeous personality. Marceline had no idea why people would want to buy repulsive black wigs.

She danced around through gaps in between people, hopped over fallen object, and did her best not to burn herself with sunlight.

Questions were swirling in her mind, but most were over powered with smacks of noises in her ear drums from everything around her. She hated loud crowds; you'd be surprised how alarmed she could get when she was lost in one.

_Where is Finn? Where is the Hospital? Where am _I_? _Were the main things she was trying to figure out.

The others around her knocked shoulders and elbows into her sides, shoving her back the way she came. Some stepped on her bare feet, others nearly causing her hood to fall back. Wouldn't that be a nightmare? The sounds were hammering in her ear canals distorting her face into some kind of wince. Curse her heightened hearing. Her instincts were whispering for her to fly away into the sky and sleep in the nearest cave she could find, but her better side forced her to push the offenders off to the edges with her last bit of strength she still retained from a night full of worry, and then race into an empty alley way where she could at last think in peace.

_Where is Finn? _Finn would be in the Hospital, that's the main reason they came there. Finn was probably in some sort of room where they could watch him at all times- damn. _Where is the Hospital? _She skipped that one. _Where am I? _Somewhere very close to Hell.

_You'll be alright no one can hurt you now_

He was woken mercilessly by someone roughly rocking his shoulders, totally unaware of the pain they were causing him by pulling in and out on his skin. "Dude! C'mon, get up! Get up, get up, get up!" It was Jake, why was it always Jake?

He did his best, but couldn't help the _GAH _that escaped his lips. His good hand clenched around the edge of the bed, chin digging into the mattress. He tried not to take in too deep a breath through his newly clenched teeth as he felt the healing wounds on the verge of splitting open again.

Jake gaps, "Oh! Sorry, sorry, I'm so _so_ sorry bro! Sorry!" He lifts his paws up in surrender, and took a single step back, "Sorry!" His eyes were squeezed shut, shoulders hunched. "Really, I'm sorry…"

Finn forced release on his body, and responded the dog with a _humph _while grinding his jaws together as he felt the same old pain he abandoned the day before. Why was it always Jake?

Jake took his usual seat next to him in the breaking wooden chair, paws together, slightly leaning forward. "Guess what?" He asked impatiently, feet vibrating where they rested.

Finn didn't even raise an eyebrow.

A huge smirk breaks across Jake's doggy face, "Jermaine told me 'Yes'!" He leapt up off his chair for a knuckle-touch, but was met in the end with nothing. "Oh, sorry…."

Finn's expression was as blank as a sheet of paper.

Jake's mood hardly flattered, "He said the hot nurses could give you a pain killer, and cut your shackles loose!"

With hearing that, Finn nodded his head, and that was all.

"Heck yeah, man!" Jake stretches his fist over to Finn's other side, and touches his good hand, "Plus, it's the Day of Colors, so if ya wanna we can go-a outside 'n stuff!" Jake is about ready to pounce on the kid.

Finn turns his troubled gaze up to the others. "Ad-

"Addiction?"

Jake stopped short, smile fading like a dull dream, "Addiction. Whadda ya mean addiction? You don't think you're gonna get addicted to Butorphanol, do you?" Jake questioned, face contorting in pure confusion, "You're nutty, you nut! No way's Jermaine gonna say yes if that would happen!" Jake shook his head, "You're a butt to think of Jermaine like that."

Finn drew his eyebrows together, and squeezed his lids shut. Why was he the only one who saw the evil in Jermaine? Why was he the only one Jermaine wanted to torture- for _anyone _apparently to torment? Maybe it was because he was handsome, or weak, perhaps people just liked the way he squirmed under hard gazes? Why did Jermaine _hate _him? Did he do something? He's sorry if he did. Did Jermaine want him too? Did Jermaine want Finn wrapped around his finger, bent over backwards for him? What was _wrong _with him?

Jake sat back down in his chair, "The smokin' babes said they were coming for you right now, by the way; they wanted to give you the stuff earlier, but weren't 'authorized' or whatever," He kicked his legs out crossed at the heels, "If they ask, I'm single and saved a baby."

Finn was very lost.

He might've fallen back to sleep after that, because he was again woken-only more gently- by Jake. _"Hot babes in the house," _He hissed into his ear before backing away to hit on the girl with long blue hair and white skin. If anything, she looked more _cold _than _hot._

The other woman brushed past the two with a plastic tray in her hands which she rested on the end table beside him. "Wow, they weren't kidding…" She murmured, her drown eyes traveling up and down his back, "No wonder," She glanced down at his face, and smiled lightly, "Hey kiddo, how's it goin'?" She seemed to be some kind of walking, talking cupcake. Why was a piece of food speaking to him?

"Oh, he doesn't really talk, don't take it personally," Jake said to her, ushering the other nurse towards him, "This is Finn the Human, he can be a jerk, he likes Apple Pie, and would love it if you beautiful ladies shot him up so we can go party outside with everybody else!" Jake literally picked up the syringe, shoved it into the cupcake's hand, and then gestured to Finn's arm, "Please?"

Finn all the while was staring fearfully at the long, _long _needle- it must've been at least four inches!

He was awfully aware of the fact that his restraints would be unlocked _after _that thing went into his flesh.

When would Jermaine just _stop?_

"No," He whispered, swaying his head side to side, _"No!"_

Jake rolled his eyes, "Kids these day, right? Tryin' to be men by not wanting pain relief," He tossed a warning right at him with his abnormal eyes.

Finn kept his mouth shut no matter the fear digging nails into his chest or worry that the pain from the shot itself may not be worth everything in total. He bites his tongue- he's afraid of Jake now, too.

When wa all was over, he refused to go outside with Jake- he might leave him behind for some woman- he would stay in the hospital until he could hold his own.

He could trust no one but Marceline.

_Come morning light_

The crowds so near her where shouting, chanting, screaming as loud as they could; it was almost like they were _trying _to hurt her.

They might as well have been setting off rockets! She could practically feel her ears splitting open! She was sure she would be deaf or dead by the end of the day.

You can bet all your pretzels she was freaking out when the crowds started to fall silent as they separated. It was like some kind of plague that washed through all the voices sealing their mouths shut with invisible stitches.

She heard it before she saw it from her place in the alley- wooden wheels rolling along the jagged, broken bricks of the courtyard. Almost like-

A carriage drove right by her, pulled by nothing but air. Her mind immediately told her a simple spell or magic was driving the buggie, but she couldn't ever be sure until she saw what was inside.

She learned never to trust her eyes.

It was made of all sorts of candies- peppermints as wheels, candy canes for rails, peanut brittle for walls- it was a personal kind of transportation, she remembered the signature pink gumdrop on the roof just to signify it was theirs. But the name of whom it belonged to was drawing a blank in her mind.

It was on the tip of her tongue…

The wagon pulled up in front of the crowd with the elegance of royalty, with the power of an emperor. It wasn't until the door opened did screams start to be exchanged.

Lengthy, glossy pitch black hair blew out the door first with the gust of wind, next came a bright pink hand pulling the rest of the person out of the vehicle. The darker pink gown billowed around their hidden legs, hair almost hiding their face- it was impossible to hide no matter how hard they tried.

Hope gets people a lot of places.

In the courtyard, out of nowhere on no notice, Princess Bubblegum practically fell from the sky.

And then, just like a bomb, the crowds cheered, shouted, and cried like the world was ending. She may be older, but there was mistaking her for what she was.

There was no mistaking her for _what _she was.

In an alley way, someone is frozen in place and shocked beyond belief.

You _had _to be kidding.

What gave her away was the hair- the same length, same shade, same style. Her hair was _exactly _the same as Ring Master's. What was more, was the little peppermint man the crawled out of the cart after her- half a distorted face as if the red had been _sucked _out of him. She remembered that one if anything, because he almost killed her.

Her hands curled into fists inside her sleeves, her head kneeling down, sanguine eyes burning into Bubblegum's.

She

was

going

to

_die,_

for what she'd done.

She

will

_burn._

Through the happiness, one animal's cry was heard specifically.

So suddenly, a path was formed through pain as a hundred people were forced aside by an indistinguishable being. The only one who stood was some figure in an ancient and tattered cloak, lone and motionless.

Princess Bubblegum knew _exactly _who she was.

"YOU!" They both shout out in unison.

Hatred goes a long way.

The Faceless Man did his best to use his one eye to see what Bubblegum was.

"HOW DID YOU EVEN SURVIVE?"

"What the cabbage?"

Peppermint Butler blank to clear the blurry image, and as soon as he had it his hand jumped to the pocket in his jacket.

The Princess felt her throat start to clench up, and her eyes sting, "What more do you WANT?" She screamed aloud, her arms thrown up into the air. "What MORE can you TAKE?"

She hardly knew Ring Master, but she knew Bubblegum well enough to see her hysterics taking place, soon enough she'd be on her knees crying her black eyes out.

Finn. Everything such a nice person could do? Bonnibel was always so motherly, how could she _kill _him like that? How could she slash him 'till he wept for forgiveness? How could she abandon her people just for him? Wasn't Bubblegum supposed to be _smart? _What happened to her, to make her like _this?_

She was seething, "HOW COULD YOU?" She remembered how carless and simple she used to be as a kid, she watched her grow up into a woman ready to take own a Kingdom, she even helped her once with Ice King when he was still kidnapping!

How could she become _this?_

"I HATE YOU!" She cried as few locks of black hair drifting to the ground where they stayed, "HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE FOREVER!"

She couldn't live with Death after she heard that, it only proved that she was cracked, if she had any sort of power over her she would have put her down on a moment's notice. Princess bubblegum was in no position to rule over that _kingdom_, those _people. _Marceline owed it to her sane side not to let her insanity take over everything before things got out of hand, just like Finn.

"BONNIE! SHUT IT!"

It was more anger than responsibility that drove her to do it- Anger over what she did to Finn. There were so many possibilities she trampled over, just like what her father did to her. She couldn't let that happen to all the innocence of the Candy People.

"NO!" She wiped tears from her cheeks, drying her hands on her skirts, "I CAN'T LET YOU!"

Marceline in one swift movement, rose from her place on the ground, and hurtled herself towards the other.

The only thought going through her mind was- _I wonder what pink tastes like. _She had every intention to murder her like she murdered him.

But… something stopped her. Something blocked her from moving any further. Something forced her to touch ground so far she ended up lying on her back. Something was choking her, something was hurting her, something was _killing _her.

_Someone _was killing her.

Fingers were shoving themselves into her mouth and down her throat, closing off her nostrils, suffocating her.

She needed to get away but had no energy from the night she spent awake. She was starving for a breath, only someone was keeping it from her. Someone was willingly killing her.

"What are you doing?" Bubblegum gasped when she saw her only friend inching closer and closer to the dying girl on the ground with the clove in his hands, "Are _you _hurting her?" He doesn't notice her hidden pleas. He was to kill off every single one of those creatures just like one tried to kill of him.

When he was close enough, he stuffed the garlic into her open mouth where it hissed as it dissolved her flesh. He stripped her hood from her face, and immediately she burned. Only strangled, deathly noises escaped her mouth, she never thought she loved oxygen so much.

"Peppermint Butler? What's happening to her?" She was getting frantic; she was watching an old friend die right at her feet.

The only words he said to her were, "Do you know why I hardly have any red left on me?" and she understood. She asked no more, stepped away from the girl on the ground, and turned her back. She understood.

The loss was almost as unbearable as the pain of sunlight. All the loss she's masked was crashing right in on her. The loss she never let herself feel over her Mother's death, the loss of Hambo, the loss of her home to the bombers. She lost her Life to Death, she lost her sanity, and she lost everything she guarded to misfortune. And now, she was losing Finn. She was losing one thousand plus years dedicated to solitude. She was losing all the beautiful memories of her and Finn together, everything that could've been. She was losing everything after she had nothing. She never thought she could lose so much…

And finally, she lost herself.

Death the first time was painful- she was thrown into a pit of fire, but was rewarded with a few short hours in a place with anything she asked for. She doesn't remember it well, but she _did _know it was great. Then her life after death turned for the worst. But now that she was experiencing Death for the second time, she could see it wasn't as bad as she thought. It didn't really hurt; the pain was fading out like a low note on her bass. If anything, she was happy that she could finally go back to her mother, she had a lot to talk about. Maybe Hambo was there waiting for her, she missed Hambo. But Finn, she didn't get to say good-bye to Finn.

But he knew she loved him.

Like a failing light bulb, her second life was gone as the sand in the wind being blown from a hand.

And then it was done. She was lost in another world where she would be waiting for Finn to join her.

In the building overlooking the courtyard, a scream echoes from the seventh floor.

Marceline, Marceline, Marceline, she was everything to him.

He knew it was only a matter of time before he lost it all again.

_And you and I'll be safe, and sound_

_Oooh_

_Oooh_

_ Lala_

_Lala_

"_Finn? What are you doing?" _She laughed, smiling warmly across to him from the couch.

He only shrugged, refusing to look away from the beetle crawling along the floor. Its armored body was as brown as the bark of a tree, its eyes as large as the tip of his thumb, and a single wing sticking out and broken.

She floated down next to him on the floor, _"Somebody probably stepped on it," _She said quietly, careful not to scare him, _"Maybe Beemo, he's terrified of bugs," _She made sure she wasn't touching any part of him, she knew how he'd get if she did.

His eyebrows arched, _"Why?" _He asked helplessly. Why would someone hurt something that hadn't done anything?

She stared quizzically on the beetle, _"Sometimes, people just can't control themselves around certain things, and in the end someone gets hurt without meaning to," _She tried to explain, but had no real answer. He asked to strangest of questions that caught her off guard.

He was becoming very aware of how close she was to him, so he scooted away slowly, trying not to catch her eye. She might hurt him if he gave her the chance.

"_How are your arms?" _She inquired, her gaze slowly following him.

He doesn't answer; he hardly ever spoke to her. He hardly spoke to anyone besides Jake.

"_Good, I guess." _She turned her head away from him, thoughts traveling to unrelated topics. _"How did you even… _get _in there?" _She instantly wanted to cover her mouth after; she didn't mean to say it.

His eyes locked right on hers in a second, gaze as cold as stone and strong as pride. He said nothing; he didn't need to speak to make her understand.

"_Sorry," _She whispered, lowering her head to the ground.

He gently took the beetle in his hand, stood from the floor, and left her alone in the room. He didn't trust her with the insect, either.

_Just close your eyes_

_You'll be alright_

He knew he saw correctly. He knew he saw what just happened.

Jake took his shoulders from behind where he stood, and yanked him back away from the window and plopped him right down on the bed.

"Don't scream that loud!" Jake hissed, looking over at the other patients who were now stirring from their places.

He screamed, when did he scream?

"Jake," He said, begging for him to tell him what he just saw. _"Jake."_

He bowed his head, "What, Finn? _What?" _What did he _want?_

He looked at the window briefly, the questions bubbling up in his head.

Jake sighed in a _I-Knew-This-Was-Going-To-Happen _tone, "Finn, stuff like that happens _a lot _here, trust me, I know," He sat down next to him on the mattress, folding his hands on his lap, "And sometimes, the people it happens to _deserve _it, and sometimes they don't."

Finn chokes, "_Deserve?" _Hadn't he seen who was just-

"Don't yell!" He drapes the white bed sheet around his shoulders so the others wouldn't see the bloody massacre he was living with. "It happens, just deal with it."

Finn shook his head viciously, _"M-Marceline!" _He pointed dramatically to the glass.

Jake only smiled, "Whadda ya mean _Marceline? _She's back at home, like Jermaine told me!"

Finn doesn't lower his hand, eyes burning in Jake's, _"Marceline,"_

He stood, walking over to the window, "Fine, I'll look," He pressed his face to the glass, focusing on all the little people below in the courtyard. Everything seemed to be back to normal besides the circle forming around the deceased. He squinted his eyes, trying to make out the image. "Who is..." A pang rocked him back from the glass, "Oh," He said, looking back to Finn who was clutching his knees with his nails, "Marceline."

Finn squeezed his eyes shut, though no tears spelt out.

"I'm... going to find Jermaine," Jake ran out the room too quick to say good-bye, leaving Finn alone in a crowded room.

Finn knew it was going to happen; sooner or later he was going to lose everything again.

Within minutes he became confused- he felt no pain.

_Come morning light_

"JERMAINE!" Jake slammed his front door against the wall, knocking the picture of his parents down to the floor where it shattered. "WHAT DID YOU _DO?"_

His shout echoed throughout the front room, met with no answer, "Jermaine!"

He was standing in front of his window, staring down on the crowded streets with an empty expression.

"Jermaine," Once Jake found him, he fell silent, watching his brother from the doorway.

"I saw," He said calmly, sliding down into the arm chair next to the bookcase, "You don't need to tell me." He held his head in his paw, eyes folding closed.

"Well, I came here to tell you, So I'm gonna!" He threw the nearest book he could find right at his brother's head, "You said she was at the house! But really she was _here, _and now she's _dead?" _ He shouted, hurling another hardcover onto him, "Guess what? Finn SAW her die! Don't you think he's been through ENOUGH?" He tossed two at the same time, one falling on the floor, "Now WHAT, Jermaine? He's gonna kill himself is what! This is YOUR fault, y'know that? She was EVERYTHING to him, but you just TOOK! THAT! AWAY!" Jermaine found himself covered in his novels.

"I know," He said, opening _The Journey to the Center of The Earth, _"I didn't mean to."

"Oh, you didn't MEAN TO? Well tough luck buddy! She ain't comin' back and you KNOW IT!"

Jermaine sighed, "He was dead from the start, and nothing's changed," He leaned back in his seat, "We should've just left him where we found him, none of this would've happened."

Jake stomped on the hardwood floors, "NO, Jermaine! This would've happened no matter what!"

Jermaine growled loudly, "Then what do you think I should DO?" He shouted, slapping the book shut again, "Should I ignore him, should I be nice to him? Should I keep him on Butorphanol, or let him suffer after it's out of his system? Maybe I should just kill him myself to save Glob the trouble!"

"I don't KNOW, okay? Do whatever, just fix it for him!" Jake trudged out of Jermaine's second home, he couldn't look the guy in the eye anymore.

_You and I'll be safe_

The wounds on his back seemed to heal nicely into thick, rippled white scars along with the scratches and bite marks on his forearms. His hand didn't have the same movement as it used to, but what would he need his hands for nowadays? The bones had bound into their correct places, everything was restored on his body, but he was more injured than ever.

There's always a bandage wrapped around his elbow where they stuck him with needles two times a day, every day for the past three years- he' always wondering when they'd stop.

He has real clothes, no paper dress, they treat him nice there.

His murky thoughts were always filled with false happiness that left him from another time. He's never happy now- they try to make him, but he just doesn't seem to be.

He likes to be alone outside in the summer where he just stands and watches the sun rise and set. No one knows why he does because he never answers them.

Finn does not speak, he refuses to say anything to anyone and no one can understand why.

There's always the blank expression on his face, kind of like he just woke from a slumber and is trying to put together where he was.

He has nightmares every night of the same things-

This Circus

This girl with red eyes

This woman with black hair

And a man with a gun saying _"Or I'll shoot!" _pointed right at him.

The same things woke him every night. He screamed into his pillow and weeps but no one knows why, he won't tell anyone. He wants to be nocturnal.

But once the nurse gives him a simple shot, he's fine, the same bored expression hidden behind tuffs of golden hair.

Everyday a woman comes to visit him at noon. She just comes to talk is what it looks like, just comes to give him company.

Finn gets jittery around her, almost like he's afraid. He doesn't stop staring into her eyes.

Those eyes, those eyes, those eyes. Those eyes were everything.

He knew who she was, but he wouldn't say it aloud, she wouldn't let him.

No one knows what his voice sounds like; he just might be too terrified to speak.

But that's not the reason, it's far from that.

He had nothing, _nothing. _Then, he had everything, _he had it all! _And lastly, everything was taken away. These things happened to him for one reason- he spoke to the girl with red eyes, to the dog with scars under his fur.

_This, _is what he gets for speaking.

The woman of pink skin touches him even though he pulls away; she talks to him even though he doesn't talk back. She loves him even though he _hates _her.

She killed Marceline, She killed _him, _She was the monster.

She will never, ever leave him behind, even when he thought she was gone she came bounding back.

He didn't ever honestly escape.

_And sound._

**Tada!**

**Last chapter done!**

**I am SO sorry you guys for killing off Marcie! But honestly I was planning her death since chapter 4, so it was coming eventually.**

**But anyway, this is by far the longest thing I've written, took me forever!**

**Thanks to EVERYBODY who sent in a song suggestion even if I didn't use it. You've been a lot of help all around!**

**Thanks everyone for reading, I had a great time writing the story even though it was depressing.**

**-The MasterHama**


	11. Jake's Bonus Chapter

**Song: Hope for Every Fallen Man by Relient K**

_**Jake's Story:**_

_As you push it up through the soil I will shake your filthy hand_

He stood alone that day as he watched the worker pile earth into the ditch, and onto the two small coffins. Then again, who would stand with him?

The sky was as clear as his spotless fur. The sun shown down with false delight, wind bringing the scent of Spring's newly blooming plant life. Perfect seventy degree weather combed its stunning fingers through his blonde hairs that towered tall even beneath his suit. He was the only one to fully endure the tragedy; he was one of the few who knew what had occurred- Which was the main problem.

He never thought tears could come down _so heavily _from just two eyes. They wouldn't stop pouring down, even when he bit his tongue and held his breath. He was _"the weakest of us all!"_

He knew in his very being that his parents were _not _meant to be brought down so early. He couldn't help but wonder what the couple could have done with another day, week, month, or a year. So much they could have been missing out on.

But all good things must come to an end, simply to make way for even better things.

"_Excuse me?"_ The voice cut through the sound of digging like a fresh blade, _"Are you Sir… Jake of the Dog family?" _

In sudden panic, he balled his sleeve in his paw, and hastily dragged it under each eye. He turned to face the man who had asked his name, _"Y-yeah, Jake,"_ He swallowed a handful of times to hide his voice's quivering.

The man wore nothing besides the most expensive coat you could imagine, which hung deep down to his ankles and fully covered his arms and most of his hands, of one he held out, _"I'm sorry for being the Bringer of Bad News,"_ Jake grasped his palm quickly before shoving it back into his pocket, _"Though after the police inspection of your home, it is forcedly being condemned as it is seen unfit for use or service to anyo-"_

He cut him off, _"Condemned: you said that, right?"_ Yet the man kept speaking on.

"_Anyone, on account of three broken doors-including the entrance- nearly every window shattered, all furniture in four of six room demolished, a burst plumage pipe in the bathroom, an-"_

"_My brother Jermaine got pissed off with my dad a few weeks ago a-and went nuts on-"_

"_And rotting food in the kitchen refrigerator."_

"_Mom's been depressed since Jermaine left, and couldn't go to the mark-"_

"_Also, as mentioned in Joshua's will, you and your brother were meant to split the family riches evenly. Though three weeks and four days ago an extremely large withdraw was taken, a-"_

"_Where am I supposed to go?" _He asked suddenly.

"_And it is now recovered that only a few hundred dollars was left behind out of a total of eighty-five thousand. Automatically, the money would go to you, but because of the fact that the autopsy for Margret hasn't fully been paid off-"_

"_Paid off? Really?" _He snapped sarcastically, _"I-I have no home, no family, no money, I don't even have food for dinner tonight, assuming I was gonna eat anything! You're giving me nothing, y'know that? I… I don't even have a house to go to after here, do I? I spent the night in the woods, so you're basically telling me I have the rest of my nights to spend there, too,"_ The words spilling out of his mouth seemed hostile in a way to himself.

Cynically, the man in the expensive over-coat told him _"I'm so sorry,"_ Handed him a stack of papers, then left him and the grave digger alone again.

Why the man had come during the funeral was beyond him, but it was the _thought _that counted.

Jake stopped the digger for only a moment, _"Thanks for everything,"_ He said to the near fully covered coffins below, dropped the stack of sheets into the hole, and stood back as the laborer continued.

Black dirt scattered onto the white sheets above his parent's when he stood alone.

Alone… but somehow as he watched them become suppressed underneath the earth, he felt more connected to his parents than he had in years living under the same roof as them.

_You may be dead to me but that don't mean we can't be friends_

He had no choice but to go crawling back to Jermaine only a week after the funeral. He had sold his suit as enough money for a few nights' rest in a motel.

Though the problem with his "Plan" was that Jermaine hadn't told anyone where he was going. So, where was he supposed to start?

Honestly, Jake had started out searching for _him _in the beginning.

Hopping around from place to place, scavenging for meals, he was doing everything in his power for only enough _dinero_ to buy fresh water; he knew no bounds when it came to survival. It had taken him a while, but he came to admit to himself that he literally would do anything to live- only so he wouldn't have to be with his parents in Glob World for an eternity.

Whoever he used to be was murdered in cold-blood.

Betting on his stretchy powers with others at local bars was common for him, earning up to thirty bucks on a good night- enough to buy him food that would last maybe two days.

He did countless things for food, disgraceful things for money.

All the while he was looking for Jermaine, only he was nowhere to be found.

He didn't _live, _he just barely survived.

_And now it's time to get over this just as long as it's clear you understand_

One year turned to two, which tumbled to three, then became four… five… six... seven… eight. But don't worry, he didn't know that.

Aside from food, temporary shelter, or clean water, he blew his limited amount of money on various alcohols.

That next morning after a long night in the bar, he couldn't quite recall what had happened, what he drank, or how he received a certain wad of cash stowed away in a flap of skin. He'd come across a lot of mornings like that.

He couldn't help it but take himself right up to the Sqeez-E-Mart with the cash held in his fist of a paw. He was suffering that day from a hangover.

Inside were not that many people, perhaps three including himself. The man at the desk, and a guy with Antlers sitting behind an isle so the clerk wouldn't see him- He was shoving coffee cakes down his throat silently.

He shut the glass door behind him along with ringing the bell attached to the top. The _dingling _and _chiming _spiked his migraine right between his eyes and the crown of his skull.

The man said nothing, too immersed in his copy of the _Ooo Review, _the front page holding the title _Princess Bubblegum Missing, Candy Kingdom in Panic! _He had seen everyone reading the same issue that week.

Wordlessly on whole instinct, he got to his knees, and scooted across the tiled floor to the guy moving on to blueberry muffins.

He pulled up right next to him, the smell of sweat, earth, sweets, and alcohol wafting up into his dry, dusty nose, though he stayed to only whisper, _"Are you stealing that stuff?"_

The guy sputtered and spat out a mouthful. He whipped around to come face-to-face with Jake, he could then smell depression, _"Stealing? I'm taking… what I _need," He took Jake's dirt encrusted fur into one hand, and pushed him back a few inches.

His tail stuck out around the corner of the isle, wagging a bit, _"But isn't that wrong?"_

"_Not if you _need _it," _He answered hoarsely, stripping a pack of sugar cookies from the shelf, ripping it open, and handing the first to Jake, "_I can tell that you do."_

Was it the dirt on him?

Maybe how you could see his ribs…

Or was it the scars and gashes all over his body?

Perhaps the lingering perfume from that girl…

It could be the smell of the alcohol, too.

Without much thought, he stuffed the sweet into his jaws, and swallowed whole. No taste lingered on his bacteria eaten tongue or canines.

"_You get it?"_

"_Get _what?" He stole another cookie from the man, this time taking his time to consume it with as much control as he could muster up from his pure hunger.

"_Get the whole deal behind why people steal stuff? _We need it. _Get it?" _The guy munched on another cookie, staring up at the ceiling too deep in thought for Jake to continue conversation.

Jake didn't get it.

Soundless, they sat there, just grabbing food off the store walls and watching the jugs of bug milk through the glass of the refrigerators. He had nothing else to do with his life but sit around.

An hour passed, and his stomach felt fuller than it had in… how long _had _it been?

"_Hey," _the guy whispered to him, _"I'm Clarence."_

Not making eye-contact, unmoving, he replied with certain comfort-

"_Jake."_

_That I will never trust a single thing you say again_

That night at the bar changed his path dramatically- So hard a turn that he was almost rocketed out of the seat he'd been sitting in for years.

That night he found some pretty interesting news.

It was seven O'clock, they always met up at seven. Same place, same time, _every night. _

He sat alone, stalking the front door of the bar all the way from the other side of the room. He definitely looked silly having all his concentration on one spot with his abnormal eyes, but he could not help but make sure that he came.

What if he didn't?

What if he forgot?

What if something happened?

He thought those same What Ifs every day. _The same time, every day, for months._

He found a drink in his hand within moments of his arrival- he had not asked for one, yet he drank it anyway.

He was still minding the door for up to an hour until it burst open with unnatural candle light.

Someone had run into the bar, the light blown out in the process. He watched the guy slam into the bench next to him, then thrust a paper into his chest. Whoever he was, was breathing deep, as if he had been sprinting for a while, _"Front… Page…"_

He had come!

Well, Clarence never missed a day with Jake…

Jake took the paper into his other hand, while nudging Clarence more fully into his seat. He placed the glass onto the counter, and turned the article up to his eyes. _"Dude, where did you get this?" _It was the Ooo Review's Sunday Edition.

His wild breathing clouded out his murmurs as he leaned over into the counter, dropping his head into his forearms. Sweat trickled down from around his head-band onto his wrists, _"Would you… just… READ it?"_

Jake exhaled, his gaze rolling down onto the paper.

Aloud, Jake read "'New Future for the Candy Kingdom,_'" _He glanced up at Clarence briefly before continuing, _"'_Four months ago, the Leader and Monarch of the strong-hold known as the Candy Kingdom, Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum, has gone missing.

"'Search Parties have been at it around the clock, though because none have found a lead, their quest has been put to an end yesterday, May sixth. Yet, without a leader in the largest kingdom of Ooo, there is fear in other dynasties that the Candy Kingdom's power could spiral out of control with no mind behind their actions. Though by outsized protest, the Candy Kingdom will remain without a ruler until Princess Bubblegum returns.

"'The second highest estate known as the Cloud Kingdom has taken it upon themselves to elect a new, temporary form of government to take control of the Candy Kingdom until the Princess returns. This administration is predicted to be highly successful, and expected to last all the way until its necessity is called off. The three heads of this group have gone to the highest bidders, selling for nearly sixty-thousand dollars each and' _blah blah blah_," He stopped reading, tossing the paper down onto the counter and replacing its place in his hands with his unforgotten drink, "_That was REALLY boring."_

Clarence had regained control of his breathing by then, _"Dude! I got this for _you_! READ IT." _He grabbed Jake's glass right out from his lips, taking a sip of his own, and then forcing the paper back up to the dog.

A single drop of alcohol dribbled down his chin, plummeted and splattered onto the main black and white picture in the center of the weekly.

Clarence never really brought stuff with him- probably because he didn't own anything- so why would he bring something for _him? _Besides, why would Clarence spend money on _him? _Sure, if Jake somehow was a few bucks short to pay for his round of drinks that night Clarence would chip in in the name of humanity- but Jake would pay him back! Why would he be wasting his money on someone who didn't deserve it?

Jake watched his brother closely for a moment, confusion and suspicion bubbling up inside him with no escape. Though, in not much time, he went on from where he left off in the text-

"'These positions are crucial for success, going off to only the most wealthy and trusted citizens in the land. As representatives of major kingdoms, such as the Flame King of the Fire Kingdom, The Cloud Princess of the Cloud Kingdom, and Jermaine of the Dog Family, representing the residents of the Grass Lands, there is no room for failure. Although pay is recei-'"

"_DUDE!"_

"_What?"_

"_Jermaine!" _Clarence's hands flung up into the air to emphasize his point.

"_What about him?"_

He brought his eyebrows together, _"How drunk are you, buddy?"_

Jake placed the parchment down again, sitting forward in his seat, _"Now THAT'S insulting."_

He brought Jake's glass down onto the stained wood, misbelief fully coating his features, "Dude, _you just read aloud that Jermaine's one of the new leaders in the Candy Kingdom."_

Jake stared at him for a second; letting his words process along with the text as if he were looking through a fog. His gaze dropped back down to the paper's photo where the picture was then warping. In the wet spot, he could just barely make out Jermaine's face looking out to him as he shook hands with a man made of clouds.

Jake lazily looked back up at Clarence for only a moment until he _burst._

He exploded.

He erupted from the inside out.

He grabbed the parchment in a fist and bolted out the door on all fours- there was no time to say goodbye, _no time to waste. _He couldn't wait any longer!

Jermaine still had no idea that their parents were gone.

There was no time left in his routine, there was _nothing more important _than finding Jermaine. He had to get to him before he was out of reach again.

But Clarence sat alone in the bar- more alone than ever because Jake _never came back._ Not the next day, not in a week, not in a month.

After that month, there was no one for Jake to come back to because Clarence was a man to carry a gun around with him, and a stolen white hat he kept in his pocket.

He took only what he needed.

_Because the judge of you is someone I could never be_

The Candy Kingdom was worse than anyone could have ever expected. There was nothing anyone could have done to predict what things would turn out as under certain rule.

Though somehow, someway, he was happier than ever.

Maybe it was the sure security of not _starving _to death? Even if not, he would be living a wasted life in the Candy Kingdom.

Every soul that wandered inside the candy brick walls was wasted.

But in the Candy Kingdom, Jake had a _profession. _No, not an actual one- but he liked to pretend it was.

So you see, he came into the Candy Kingdom thinking _"I bet Jermaine's in the castle," _though that thought was crushed, burnt and eaten as soon as something danced in the corner of his eye.

It was something that glistened in the sunlight, and moved across the earth as if it had no bounds and probably could've flown up into the sky whenever it wanted to. Something which would take him away from everything he was surrounded by, it was something he could hold onto and together they could guide each other to all these places they'd never been! It was something that would rust in its joints over time, but for the longest it would hold _onto him, _until it fell apart beneath his weight.

And that something was a bike. A spell-binding, stunning _bike- _left for dead within a dumpster behind a Caramel Shop.

A bike might not be very appealing to the average civilian, but to _Jake _nothing was more beautiful.

Inside of him _somewhere, _deep down below all of his misery- he felt genuine ecstasy as he tore the bicycle from its thought eternity as trash, and walked it through the busy streets of the Candy Kingdom searching for his brother.

As he held the handlebars, he began to wonder. Why did he need to find Jermaine anyway if all he could do was take his money, take his home, and take everything he loved? As he maneuvered through the candy people, laying his eyes upon each of their still mourning faces he began to really _think _about why he was there.

His parents were dead. He had gone to tell Jermaine- but they passed away a _long _time ago…

Why should he have even cared? Jermaine didn't- he never cared about anything! The cynical son of a bitch…

Jake paused in the center of the surging crowd with his companion. Then in the Candy Kingdom the only thought he had was _"I bet Jermaine would find _me_ if he cared."_

Right there he decided that his purpose in the Kingdom _was not _to get Jermaine- it was for _Jermaine _to find _him._

He knew he would.

_Is why you should thank the lord that it is him and it's not me_

Jake's profession did not pay him, it did not offer him anything, it did not support him in anyway but he kept at it for only one reason- He did not know it was wrong. There was no one to tell him that it was criminality because _nobody knew _he did it.

Jake the Dog's empty occupation was hogging bikes- unwanted or not.

For a few months he'd been living in an abandoned garage right next to this other deserted bar (alcohol or any branches of it were outlawed almost immediately when Jermaine suggested it).

His garage held all of his bicycles._ All of them secretly. _There were children's tricycles, smaller bikes, ones for adults that he found chained at the side of the road. There was nothing wrong. Nothing wrong with it at all. _Nothing was WRONG. Don't you dare try and tell him it was._

Don't you understand?

Bikes. Were. Everything. More than food, or drinks, _he didn't even feel the need for money. _Just thinking of all the places he could go by riding made him quake. Only he never _actually_ rode them at all- they just sat neatly in rows upon rows without a speck of dust resting on their gears.

For almost two years he lived with that career. He. Was. Happy. He would never be as happy as he was again as his bliss was literally burned to ashes.

It was a scorching Thursday night in the middle of summer with a slight breeze that passed through the winding alleys and roads of the kingdom. The sun had set beyond the horizon line, the people were reminded of the curfew by the officers swamping the streets, and Jake had begun his walk back perfectly on time.

He snuck into his home through the shattered window at the back which served as his usual front door. He crawled under fallen peanut-brittle boards and sugar-paper-wrap from when the building was originally being built, maneuvering around in the near darkness into the main. Inside hidden behind dirt encrusted windows and the public's ignorant thoughts lied over sixty stolen bikes casting the longest of shadows.

His breath was caught in the back of his throat when he witnessed that rare beauty, pressure pushed in the back of his eyes, his bottom lip budged out just a bit and he thought he was going to cry right on the spot.

He let himself fall to the ground surrounded by the rusting metal;_ he was happy to be alive, _even if tears were running down from his eyes and into his fur.

_But don't give up_

He didn't think it could all come crashing down so soon. Especially since he was only aware that actual life _just _started. Life where he could come and go whenever he pleased, one without worry or second guesses or having to bet on his life or depending on people who didn't give a damn about you or _anything. _It was the first time in his existence when he was living _free, _when he was sure it would _last, _it was the first time in a _long time _where he went to sleep fully hoping he'd wake up. And that was saying a lot compared to how he was before and after his parents' decease. Just look- he was almost back to normal- the way Jermaine remembered him.

When exactly was Jermaine planning on finding him, anyway? He had perfectly ignored the amount of time it was taking him, but it had to be soon, right? Jermaine hadn't seen him in so… long… but Jake had seen _him _plenty of times atop his chocolate stallion, roaming the Candy-Cobblestone roads. Only he was the one to duck into an alley, behind backs, underneath carts when his brother came around on his steed.

_Jake's_ steed was a stolen bike.

If Jermaine were to slide of his horse's back and onto the ground- maybe even look around for a bit onto his people- he would see Jake _right there in front of him, _but he never even acknowledged anyone…

But Jake still loved him; even if he ruined his already crumbling life so long ago.

And along with the dying embers, so was his bliss.

He knew the surge of rebellion would be coming, just not _that night, _not so painfully. It was no accident.

He was about to drift into his slumber in between the isles of his bikes, beneath dusty quilts and absolutely unaware of what would come. There was something out there ready to kill, ready to _strike, _ready to completely _destroy _everything and anything that laid in its path of annihilation- it was something warning all of their shared futures.

_It's not the end_

What had stirred him up from the ground was nothing but the rumbling within the Earth. Nothing but the quaking, the shaking, the trembling, the shuddering of hundreds of feet beating away on the Candy Rock Gravel outside.

At first he thought it was an actual Earthquake until he could see the overwhelming numbers of shadows cast through the glass, illuminated by fire light.

In a moment's reaction, he had broken free of his cocoon, and stumbled low to the floor as quickly as realistically possible from someone half asleep.

Nudging into the metal spokes and pedals of his companions, he ignored to scratches as he fought to find a route out of home.

He was tossing himself around like a stone in the dark, clanking into every wall of the building, tripping over the innocent air, blindly searching for an escape with pathetic muscles fragile bones and a blurry mind.

Outside there was chaos greater than any hurricane at its worst; Jake was in the eye of the storm, looking out from a vista.

Screaming out panicked words of plea and assistance, he tore his vocal chords to slivers, asking for anyone to pull him out from the building's echoing walls.

He called for Jermaine, for Clarence, for his parents, for the life he could've lived and for the life he had wasted. He cried out as long as he could only for his voice to be drowned by the sea outside.

And he knew he would have to react before he'd be blown into pieces, it was just the fact that _there was no escape from the life he'd woven so tightly._

From the street just a wall away, he could feel the vibrations running through the ground, he could hear each person singing aloud, and beyond the windows he could just barely see the colors of candy. Why could no one do the same for him?

All of his elegant bikes shivered with the roaring crowd with the same fear he was feeling. Metal on metal screeching out his name, spokes protruding into other's wheels- and the rows upon rows began to topple over. _Down, down, down to the ground._

Jake could do nothing but stand and watch as his loved ones tackled each other to the floor, wheeled away, and shattered. Jake had no more breath to scream out that horror, so instead tears came down his face with no sobs to go with.

And then everything exploded.

Everything turning in on itself and said _"I'm done with this!" _and just detonated.

The window panes had all at once burst into fractions made of glass around him. Shards of crystal came from every direction, splintering and rupturing anything it could make contact with- including him.

Somehow, someway, whoever was outside had managed to destroy his home with _one hit. _And of all, some those fragments were headed directly for him.

And right after the windows were broken there had come the flames.

Through the newly created gaps, torches were hurled in where they skidded across the dirt coated floor and caught aflame upon everything that was once in his possession.

But still, he could not call, cry, scream, or shout out his presence. He could only watch as the inferno licked away on his home, and engulfed everything that meant anything to him- taking it all away as he sat there watching with glass in his skin and the stitches on his heart bursting open.

But no, no it was not the end for him. It would not be his closing for a while, not until he truly suffered from the gashes and slashes he was given as gifts on the inside and out. Within his ribcage his heart was beating away while taking bruises with each intake of blood, and on the outside his skin was greeting every new wound with the kiss of death. But no, no matter how much _pain _he felt, how much _agony _he put himself through, _he did not once regret any choice he made. _Because always he thought- there was someone that went through something even rawer than just a few burns or cuts. There was someone out there who deserved more than him but got less anyway. There was someone in more trouble than him somewhere, someone with more heartache, someone with more misery who deserved so much more than him. Jake always thought about whomever that person was, whoever they were must be the most hopeless person on the face of the earth judging how close he himself was to fully giving up.

And all around him everything fell apart.

From shattering glass to flames eating it all up, he reminded himself as he stood and bolted for a window that there was someone out there in the world that was living worse of a life than he was. Things could be worse, they could always be worse.

He dove out the gap in the wall, rolled out onto the small amount of grass around the building and got away from the combustion as fast as he could to the other side of the road.

There, surrounded by the uproar of the crowd as they took down the other structures on the same road, he watched all of his worthless loves, hopes and dreams burn and crumble to the ground becoming the nothing they always were.

That night, every officer was murdered along with some civilians trying to escape the kingdom. Out of the three, two of those money-bought leaders were publically killed… except for their highest ranking.

And that ranked man was supposed to be the Fire King.

_There's hope for every fallen man_

Jake hadn't stayed in the Candy Kingdom much longer than a week after his brother's presumed death for only one real reason.

He didn't have a place to crash in.

Without the compression of officers around every corner, he was openly free to steal anything he needed or do whatever he wanted- he chose to not do those things. Jake a few days older opened his eyes and saw the one thing he'd been missing in all his years of theft: He was taking things that belong to other people.

Which is really funny, because he should've known that when he stole purses from old ladies.

_But _we are talking about _Jake, _so it should come off as no surprise to anyone because it's the Jake who got drunk every night, hogged stolen bikes, took old lady purses, and left his brothers Clarence and Jermaine for dead. Not to mention eating food from a Squeeze-E Mart without paying. Even with the minor amount of good Jake had done with his life, he was- and always will be- the Jake who had gotten caught up in between. He would always be him no matter who he tried to be.

In the few days after, Jake had taken the nothing that belonged to him out the newly vandalized barriers of what once was the stronghold known as the Candy Kingdom.

That was the first time he felt completely, utterly, entirely, totally, absolutely alone as he walked through the Grass Lands. He had no one, none of his bikes, tricycles, or parts- not even his brothers.

Jake was fully alone in the world, with no one to save him or anyone to care what he did. The only person who worried for him was himself, he only worried for him.

He took a seat under the canopy of green trees, his legs spread wide in front of him.

There was no hope for him, for he had none invested.

"_Well, great job Jake," _He whispered to himself, _"You just blew it."_

What exactly he blew was not important, it was just that he lost his entire "Life's Work" to a bunch of rebellious Pop-Rocks who set molasses a flame on rock-candy sticks, and threw the stuff into his windows. He blew it.

He was the lost cause no one knew about. All people did when they saw him was look away because nobody gave a _damn _about who he was or what he'd been through.

He didn't give a damn, either.

_To pick themselves up when they think they can_

A year went by, and Jake was face down depressed.

He didn't do much, really. He mostly sat around in various towns as a lonely beggar, going unnoticed by everyone except for children.

But never would he steal again, so he stuck to begging even if it did him no good.

Then came another year; this time Jake was just a flat out drunken creep who said stupid things that got him beaten up like Captain K'nuckles. He got his alcohol from the dumpster behind a supermarket.

But still, he did not steal _anything_ from _anyone_ unless it was a penny from the ground.

The third year was a bit better; everybody's favorite street performer was always a bunch of smiles (especially when somebody put a dollar bill into his stretched flap of skin in the shape of a hat- Jake didn't own any hats). It was a very long time since people had paid any kind of mild respect or compassion to him, and he fully enjoyed every minute of it.

During that year Jake had no need for anything he couldn't buy himself, so what good was stealing to him?

Jake the Dog wasn't happy showing off his stretchy powers, but earning enough money to buy him food and clean water most days wasn't bad at all. He didn't nearly make enough to make a roof to live under (or even rent), but at least he was still breathing and nobody could see his ribcage from under his blotchy fur.

During that year he began to wonder what would've happened if Jermaine hadn't gotten into that fight with his dad. What opportunities could he have been presented with if his parents were still around (no matter how much he hated them)? Jake loved Jermaine, but what would've happened if he hadn't taken all of their money?

Why didn't Jermaine find him like he was supposed to?

Didn't Jermaine love _him?_

What would've happened if Jermaine wasn't killed? What would've happened if Jake saved him? What would've happened if his former cycling dream was actually _something?_

He was rising from the ashes more slowly than he preferred, yet still he was headed in the opposite direction than what he was a few years ago.

_Because with every passing second comes a second chance_

He at first didn't want to put down his book, but even he knew that his social life was about as nonexistent as… there was nothing to compare to Jermaine's social life, because no one else had any like his.

If you didn't know, Jermaine lived alone in a valley _all the way_ on the other side of the Barren Lands with only books for company, and books for the isolation the mountains around did not give him. Jermaine didn't really do much more than read all day- what else was he _to do? _

Everybody would hate him if they knew who he was, nobody would want him around- not even he did. Jermaine had secluded himself in that valley just to save the people he could not the first time.

The blood on his hands was no longer wet, but it was the kind of stain he could not wash away with just Printer's Ink and the always forgiving isolation.

Jermaine only went _Outside _of his carefully constructed bubble once every few weeks to buy only the necessities and more novels to pile upon his collapsing shelves and tables.

The last time he'd been to the market was last week, when he'd been handed a flier for the Chicken Parade in Chicken Blood Cove.

He was going to crumple up the paper and throw it right back at the guy, but after a glance at the books in his cart under the genre _Romance, _he folded the sheet carefully and placed it in his jacket's pocket. It was his only legitimate reason to put down his book. But the entire walk to Chicken Blood Cove he wished he had brought it with him.

People went to the parade for the eggs, Jermaine went for the people.

All around him they were bumping into each other, pushing, yelling, and loosing themselves in the crowd. Was he the only one quietly observing everyone else? He hadn't seen so many people in one place in quite some time.

There were over grown chickens handing out eggs from pouches- He was busy wondering how they got so big.

He was gnawing over how he could suffocate with all those people taking his air.

What if they pushed him down to the ground, and he became trampled along with the grass beneath their feet?

Jermaine soon found out that he did not like being in the center of crowds. He began to try to shove himself back the way he'd come, but a thick wall of others stood in his path- chanting and collecting eggs.

He then realized that he shouldn't have gone. He shouldn't have gone…

That was when he heard his name screamed from behind him. Someone slammed right into his back, and tried to _strangle _him. Then they began to cry right onto him.

Jermaine was confused for the moment until he looked down and saw his brother wrapped around his shoulders bawling like a baby.

"_What… _happened _to you?"_

Jake was in the worst state he could've been in, and that tore Jermaine to pieces.

And as Jake explained what had occurred since the fight so long ago, Jermaine realized how horrible a mistake he had made, and how much he missed his brother.

He then saw what he had indirectly done to Jake, how everything folded out for him along with the reality he must have endured to have made it that far.

"_Jermaine, why didn't you _find _me?"_

_You stole so much from me that there is nothing left to take_

Jermaine had _no idea _that what he did would have such an outcome on Jake- he never would have thought of what actually happened to him.

Jake told him the whole story as he wrote it down in notebook after notebook. It took him days to scribble it all down- it was his fault, so he might as well have a record of it.

In the times Jake went into detail for some fights he got into, or what he stole, Jermaine thought he would've cried because _it was because of him._

Jake told Jermaine about Clarence, too. He told him that if he didn't go to the Candy Kingdom to look for him, Clarence would've still been alive. But Jermaine wasn't too sure whose fault that was since Jake set himself that it was his.

Jermaine couldn't withstand to hear some of the things that came out of Jake's mouth, but he wrote them down anyway.

What _really _brought him down was the part when Jake told him about his bike-hogging in the Candy Kingdom. Jermaine didn't even _know _Jake was there to begin with! If he saw, if he _knew, _if he even cared…

Jake destroyed him when he told him what he thought Jermaine was-

He thought Jermaine was _dead._

He thought the Candy People _murdered _him. _Publicly. _

He even went through the list of the deceased looking for Jermaine's name: and Jake actually found it.

Jermaine was _so guilty _of Jake's life, but it was like Jake didn't even _care _about it. Jake still had those happy eyes that looked right at him when he asked a question. Jermaine was so ashamed, locking himself in a home thinking that everything was _okay._

He said he was sorry so many times that Jake began to ignore him.

No matter how many times he said it, it would never be enough- and Jake knew that, but thought nothing of it. They were brothers, Jake was just happy to have him back.

_Save a hard learned lesson on how not to make the same mistake_

_And you may be delirious but that is something that will fade_

_After you confess that this mess is all something that you made_

He was lying in his bed, arms crossed behind his head, staring into the dark that came with the night.

He was thinking about Jake again. He didn't exactly have much else to think about.

He finally knew everything that Jake went through, but he still felt like he could never _fully _know. Jake must've been keeping some details from him…

He was so, _so _mortified that it had to be Jake. He himself would have taken up the other's place in an instant! Jake didn't deserve what had gone down, if anyone _he _did.

He sighed, letting his eyelids droop just a bit with pity. He was hating himself a lot more since Jake came around.

Across the room, a light tapping sounded against his opening door. Jake's head slipped in, looking at him on the bed. _"I had a nightmare."_

Jermaine's breath caught in his throat, for Jake used to come into his room after nightmares many times when they were kids.

He beckoned with his hand, scooting over on the mattress to make room.

Jake quickly made his way, and into the bed with him. He took most of the blanket and piled it around his body, leaving Jermaine with barely any. _"You need a bigger bed," _He whispered as if there was someone else to wake.

Jermaine rolled over so his back was to him, _"Just go to sleep."_

Jake twirled a piece of the blanket between his fingers, watching Jermaine's ribcage rise and fall, _"I dreamt that you died… again I think…" _

His fist clenched in on the little cloth he had left, but he said nothing to Jake as he pretended to be asleep.

"_I mean, I know your alive and all, but I was so sure that you were with mom and dad…" _ Jake yawned against the fabric, _"Jermaine?"_

He stayed quiet.

"_Why didn't you find me?"_

_Because the judge of you is someone I could never be_

_Is why you should thank the Lord that it is Him, and it's not me_

It had been around two years living with Jermaine when Jake came running home with news he picked up in town.

He came crashing into the kitchen where Jermaine was making sandwiches for them, crying out how excited he was.

"_Dude! Guess what?" _He yelled, ripping the food from his brother's hands.

Jermaine growled- that was supposed to be _his _sandwich, "_What?"_

"_There's this circus coming to town today! I saw them putting up the tent in that field! Can we go later?" _He skinned the crust off the toast, handing the scraps back to his brother before shoving the rest into his mouth.

Jermaine looked unimpressed upon the crust now in his hands, _"There's nothing interesting about circuses."_

Jake swallowed his mouthful, _"That's where you're wrong! I heard that they actually have a _Human _that they're showing!"_

Jermaine's gaze snapped back up, _"A _Human? _Like, a living, breathing Human?"_

Jake nodded, _"Can we go?"_

Jermaine bit the side of his mouth. He'd never seen a human before; he thought they were extinct. Humans were the ones who wrote all of his books, the ones who told stories like no other species. Maybe this human could show him how it's done. _"Why not?"_

Jake burst out of the kitchen again to take a bath like Jermaine always told him to.

The excitement was almost unbearable! A _real Human! _He could hardly wait to see it!

Without thinking, he accidentally slammed right into the book shelf in the living room, knocking down several to the floor.

"_Pick that up!" _Jermaine called from the kitchen.

He angrily got onto his paws and knees, putting the novels back into their places as hastily as he could, stretching his arms up and down.

When his eyes met three green spiral notebooks, he froze in his position. He had told Jermaine to throw those out a _long_ time ago. They held nothing but bad memories and dreams.

He carelessly slid them all under the couch where nobody could find or touch them before rising from the ground and walking off to the bathroom.

He didn't care anymore, because living with Jermaine was better than anything else. Nothing would disrupt it, no one could disassemble it.

Jake was fully happy in his life with Jermaine. For once he had nothing to worry about, no hate for anyone he was living with. There was no threat of harm or financial issues.

Jake loved Jermaine more than he ever had when they were kids, and he was so glad that Jermaine was still around to be his brother.

His first regret was hiding when Jermaine and his steed were riding around on the streets of the Candy Kingdom. He regretted that so much he could _implode. _

He knew inside his very being everything that's happened to him was nobody's fault but his own, right from the beginning. It was all his doing even if Jermaine was the primary candidate.

Jermaine was right not to find him. He was so glad he didn't! Jermaine would have hated him.

Jake _deserved_ to be alone.

He should've been burned to a crisp in the Candy Kingdom, just as much as Jermaine should have been executed in front of all those people.

If they had died, Jermaine would've told his parents how sorry he was for everything he'd done to them and his little brother.

The moment Jake came back to him in Chicken Blood Cove, he knew they were both given a second chance together.

And that time they would not let it crumble _down, down, down to the ground._

_But don't give up, it's not the end._

_There's hope for every fallen man,_

_To pick themselves up when they think they can,_

_Because with every passing second comes a second chance_

**Well that took a while…**

**I do apologize that this is so late, I just have been mildly busy lately, and things got in the way of my limited computer time…**

**Also, I'm not too sure if some finance guy would come **_**during **_**the funeral of their clients… but it's Adventure Time, we can pretend they would…**

**But anyway, thank you SO MUCH for reading and reviewing! **

**-MH **


	12. Revising Chapters AN

**Hey all,**

**So, I don't know if you'll be happy to hear this or not-**

**I've been getting a decent amount of PMs and Reviews from confused people over than past few months. My only words to them were "Just keep reading it gets less confusing", but during that time I didn't see ****_how _****they were confused in the first place, so I guess that sort-of didn't help...**

**But I went in to go look over the first few chapters anyway- and like probably everyone who looks over their past writing, I did that "Oh my god... why did I write this..." kind of thing and sat in my room thinking over what to do and how to fix what I'd done all that time ago.**

**And for a while I was thinking "Should I... or shouldn't I...?", and so over a little peer-pressure and a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that "I should."**

**With the help of White-Wolf-Purple-Eyes as a beta, the first 4 chapters will be brought back under, and emerge better than ever. That means I'll be heavily revising and partly re-writing the first 4 chapters.**

**I hope that for anyone confused, this will help out a lot more than "just keep reading". And if you weren't confused, well, enjoy I guess.**

**Thank you all for putting up with me, and expect the first chapter to be re-uploaded in two days time. (Each new chapter will be spaced by two days)**

**Also, you will not have access to the original chapters after they're replaced (unless you ask me to shoot them over to you specifically through DocX), so... be aware of that, I dunno... **

**But thank you all! See you in two days!**

**-The MasterHama**

* * *

><p><strong>*NOTE: Please if you are a new reader, DO NOT read on to the rest of the story until all 4 chapters are complete. Thank you!<strong>


	13. Final AN

**Sorry, I'll make this quick**

**So this story has been done for **_**quite **_**some time. Ended on a downer note, not too many of you were happy with it.**

**So, my friend DarkWrath20 has written a spin-off sequel, which I have read and enjoyed **_**very**_** much.**

**(Nope this "sequel" is not official, whatever happens in it does not officially happen in the original story [so sorry]. It's entirely fan-made)**

**A basic summary of it:**

**Jake finally believes he's found a way to bring Marceline back from the dead after three years, and convinces a broken Finn to help him, but things go terribly wrong.**

**If you'd like, go right ahead and read it!**

**Thank you!**

** s/9410118/1/Be-My-Escape-What-Was**


End file.
